Apple vs. the FBI: all the news on the battle for encryption’s future – The Verge

Here’s how the FBI managed to get into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone

2021-04-14T15:58:08-04:00

The FBI partnered with an Australian security firm called Azimuth Security to gain access to an iPhone linked to the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, a new report from The Washington Post reveals. Before now, the methods the FBI used to get into the iPhone were kept secret. It was only clear that Apple wasn't involved, as the company had refused to build a backdoor into the phone, kicking off a legal battle that only ended after the FBI successfully hacked the phone.

The phone at the center of the fight was seized after its owner, Syed Rizwan Farook, perpetrated an attack that killed 14 people. The FBI attempted to get into the phone but was u …

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FBI won’t have to reveal details on iPhone hacking tool used in San Bernardino case

2017-10-01T15:00:02-04:00

A federal court ruled yesterday that the FBI does not have to disclose either the name of the vendor used or price the government paid to hack into the iPhone 5C of mass shooter Syed Farook, according to ZDNet. The device became embroiled in a heated national controversy and legal standoff last year when Apple refused to help the FBI develop a backdoor into it for the purpose of obtaining sensitive information on Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, both of whom participated in the terrorist attack that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California in December 2015.

The Justice Department originally filed a lawsuit against Apple to compel it to …

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FBI sued by news organizations for information on San Bernardino iPhone hack

2016-09-16T11:09:54-04:00

Three news organizations are jointly suing the FBI for information on how the agency broke into the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

Associated Press, Vice Media, and Gannett bringing suit

The Associated Press, Vice Media, and USA Today parent company Gannett said in a lawsuit filed today that the FBI has no right to keep the technique it used to crack the phone hidden from the public. The suit, brought under the Freedom of Information Act, asks a court to force the FBI to release contracting information on the hack purchased by the agency.

The FBI faced off with Apple in a major legal standoff earlier this year when the agency …

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The FBI bought an iPhone hack, but not the right to tell anyone how it works

2016-04-27T14:29:51-04:00

On March 28th, the FBI bought a way to break into the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino fight - and ever since, the tech world has been wondering what they'll do with the new bug. The White House maintains a process for disclosing any vulnerabilities that might post a threat to public safety, and you might think that a method for unlocking possibly stolen iPhones would qualify. But federal agencies are very good at circumventing that process (take this Firefox bug, for instance), and from the beginning the question wasn't whether the FBI would wriggle out of the process, but how.

Today, we got the explanation we've been waiting for …

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With its retreat in New York, the FBI has lost the encryption fight

2016-04-25T11:16:59-04:00

As 2015 drew to a close, you might be forgiven for thinking the encryption debate was all talk. There had been a lot of speeches and it was clear the FBI didn't like Apple's default encryption system - but what could they actually do about it? They had been leaning on Congress all year and getting nowhere.

Then, everything changed. On February 16th, the FBI took Apple to court over an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, putting encryption at the center of the largest terrorism-linked shooting in the US in years. A similar phone-unlocking order was already being argued in New York, and the two cases plunged Apple into a legal …

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Government withdraws from New York iPhone unlocking case

2016-04-22T22:23:16-04:00

The Justice Department has withdrawn from its legal dispute with Apple over a locked iPhone in New York, the government said in a court filing made late Friday. The department said the FBI no longer needs the company's help unlocking the phone, involved in a drug-trafficking case, as it has obtained the passcode from someone else.

The withdrawal is the second high-profile case the FBI has stepped away from in recent weeks after finding alternative means to unlocking a phone without Apple's help. Last month, the agency ended a similar case in San Bernardino after paying a third party for a way to hack into a phone. Recently, Director James C …

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The FBI paid over $1 million for the hack that broke the San Bernardino iPhone

2016-04-21T15:17:30-04:00

The FBI's new iPhone exploit may be more expensive than anyone suspected. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Director Comey said the method that broke into the San Bernardino iPhone cost "more than I will make" in his remaining seven years at the FBI. Reuters calculates Comey's projected earnings over that period at $1.3 million.

Presented the day before FBI experts were due to testify in the San Bernardino case, the new method brought the San Bernardino trial to an abrupt close, ending months of legal efforts to compel Apple's help in unlocking the phone. Within a week, the method broke through the phone's lock screen protections. Earli …

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Read the tech industry’s open letter about ‘unworkable’ encryption bill

2016-04-20T04:47:26-04:00

Four tech coalitions representing major companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook have written an open letter to Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), expressing their "deep concerns" over a bill that would require smartphone makers to decrypt data on demand for law enforcement agencies. The letter was signed by Reform Government Surveillance, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, and the Entertainment Software Association, and was published online Tuesday. You can read it in full below.

Letter to Chairman Burr and Vice-Chairman Feinstein Regarding Encryption

April …

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Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others express ‘deep concerns’ over controversial encryption bill

2016-04-20T04:37:17-04:00

Four coalitions representing Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other major tech companies have published an open letter expressing their concerns over a controversial US bill that would require smartphone makers to decrypt data on demand. The letter, published this week, is addressed to the bill's sponsors, Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and signed by four industry groups: Reform Government Surveillance, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, and the Entertainment Software Association. In addition to Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, the coalitions repre …

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The FBI has gotten no new leads from the San Bernardino iPhone

2016-04-19T17:41:04-04:00

For months, the FBI pressured Apple to break security measures on an iPhone used in the San Bernardino attacks, only to call off the case at the last minute when it was presented with a third-party method for breaking into the phone. But while the bureau's legal arguments have been detailed exhaustively, it's remained silent on exactly what it expected to find on the phone, which was issued to the San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook by his employer.

But a new report suggests the phone has yielded almost no useful information. CNN is reporting that the phone didn't contain any previously unknown contacts or message data, citing anonymous law …

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