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On Tuesday, a Federal Judge from Central California ordered that Apple help unlock the iPhone 5C that one of the San Bernardino shooters received from his job. The phone is officially owned by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, but they are unable to access it. The FBI hasn’t been able to unlock the only device left behind by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, all others were intentionally destroyed.
All Apple phones running the latest software have “full disk” encryption, and Apple has publicly stated that it does not hold an encryption key for the iPhone software. They can’t unlock it, even if they want to. The only way to access a locked phone is through the four or six digit passcode. If this particular phone has a bad password ten times in a row, the phone will wipe itself, and the FBI is worried they would loose all data.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has come out staunchly against the Government’s order, by stating “The F.B.I. may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a back door. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.” If the Government held the keys to unlock any iPhone, that would be a massive security breach. Certainly there would be instances where a phone would be searched without the owner’s knowledge, such as the bulk phone data collection done by the NSA. It gives the Government way too much power to gain extremely personal information on our most intimate devices. If the US Government demands such access, other counties that have been eyeing it–such as China–will demand the same, resulting in a massive slippery slope of privacy breaches. Governments do not deserve to have our personal data in the name of security. How this sensitive information will be used depends on what politician is in power. Frightening.
Considering Syed Rizwan Farook destroyed all other devices–including his personal cell phone–there’s a very good chance that there’s nothing insightful on this phone. However, the consequences will be immense, felt all over the world.
Read the full story at The New York Times.
Photo from mobiFlip.
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