FBI Examines Other Apple Devices To Unlock By Hacking

In order to find out the extent of its newly acquired hacking technique, the FBI is testing the method on other versions of the iPhone.

According to the most recent news, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has busied itself in finding out the extent of its newly acquired “hacking techniques.” Therefore, it is now testing the latest method it used to hack into the terrorist’s phone in order to find out whether the method fall right for other versions of the iPhones

The highly anticipated showdown between Apple and the U.S. government finally ceased when the government announced later last month that it had finally unlocked the terrorist’s phone after seeking the help from an undisclosed outside third party. The government hasn’t also disclosed the information extracted after decrypting the phone’s data. It, however, has dropped its legal case against the tech giant.

The Cupertino, Calif. firm hasn’t been able to detect the unidentified security flaw in the iPhone 5C architect which was exploited by the government to bypass the device’s security. This makes an unknown number of devices exposed to vulnerability creating the option for a wider debate between the company and the most influential government over the sensitive issue of privacy, security, and encryption.

The principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, Chris Soghoian expressed that the law enforcement agency is in a dilemma to strike the balance between the cybersecurity and its need of surveillance. He also criticized the FBI for asking Apple for assistance and he envisioned that the more the FBI grows silent about the inherent security flaw, the more they increase the susceptibility of the security flaw to be identified by a third party.

Even at the fastest pace, the disclosure of the security gap by the law enforcement agencies and the federal intelligence can take months, as per the former and current officials. Moreover, the White House has been contemplating whether the security fault should be kept secret from the affected company in order to strengthen its own surveillance or not.

According to the former and current government officials, things aren’t simple in the current case. Since Apple and other organizations openly opposed the government’s view of compelling a company to create weaknesses for its devices on the show of court order. It is more than likely that once the tech giant gets accustomed to the security flaw, it will work harder to bolster up its devices’ encryption.

Additionally, the government has to prudently decide whether to forward the hacking technique to the local law enforcement authorities who, at multiple times, reported their complaints of lack of accessibility they face into the criminals devices which limit the acquisition of potential evidence of criminal activities.

A former senior FBI official, Robert Anderson expressed that in the event where the agency would be able to unlock greater number of devices, it should disclose the method to Apple, as he believes that the government will certainly not put the millions of devices at risk while hiding the hacking technique.

He also added that the legal battle between Apple and FBI tend to ignore the fact that in today’s age technological advances have outperformed the government’s effort to be on the top. He went on to say that the method discovered by the FBI has very limited life span.

Similarly, ACLU’s Mr. Soghoian said that if the government opts for not disclosing the flaw to Apple for its investigative purposes then it will not turned out to be good. He further cited that by “stockpiling vulnerabilities, and not reporting them, the U.S. government risks angering firms that it regularly goes to seeking voluntary help. And the U.S. government needs Silicon Valley more than Silicon Valley needs the U.S. government.”

Apple Plans To Strengthen iCloud Encryption In Future

The major challenge lies ahead when Apple has to strike the balance between bolstering the encryption without creating inconvenience for users.

Apple had openly refused to assist in unlocking the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook – one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attacks but the tech titan has handed in the data from Farook’s phone, which he had backed up on iCloud service. In the near future, the company will not be able to decode user information by any means.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has been working on strengthening its encryption so much so that even it cannot decrypt the data backed on the iCloud service.

The major obstacle that the company’s executives ought to push out of their way is how to strike the balance between the iCloud encryption and users’ convenience. Since the Cupertino, Calif. firm has always taken pride in developing easy to use, innovative, and intuitive software, it now worry about making the software complicated.

The impending complexity, which might be created by the encryption of the iCloud service, is that in the case where a user forgets the password and the company doesn’t have the keys, users will lose all the stored photos and the important data. However, if the tech organization keeps a copy of the key, it can be coerced to turn over the service by the legal authorities and the likes. A former Apple security and privacy manager, Window Snyder, also endorsed the underlying implications if the company maintains the hold of the copy of the key.

The security of software has the same issues as that attached to the physical world. Tighter security invites more hurdles for instance, more codes or locks for a home alarm system. Therefore, the company has released no determined timing in the duration in which it will bolster the encryption of its iCloud service.

The subject service of Apple is basically Internet services set through which users can sync and store the data across multiple devices. For instance, a photo shot through iPad can automatically appear on a Mac or an iPhone which has the same iCloud account. After having a secure Wi-Fi connection, the backup service of the iCloud automatically captures and saves the daily snapshot of the contents of the phone. Users can later use the backups to transfer health data, iMessages, photos and other information to a new iPhone from the old one.

Apple already has a feature called iCloud Keychain which is inaccessible by the company itself. The users can safely and securely store their credit-card information and passwords on it.

Apple already stores some data that it can’t access or read in iCloud Keychain. It is the case with the subject device of the legal battle between Apple and the F.B.I. The company readily provided the last backed up data till Oct 19 which account for six weeks prior to the shootings that occurred on Dec. 2.