FBI helping unlock another iPhone — is this just the beginning?
FBI helping unlock another iPhone — is this just the
beginning?
By Levi Sumagaysay /
March 31, 2016 at 11:19 AM
Is it open season on iPhones? The FBI said late Wednesday
it will help unlock an iPhone and iPad in an Arkansas murder case, a couple of
days after the feds dropped their fight against Apple in the San Bernardino
terrorism investigation.
The Associated Press points out that it’s unclear whether
the FBI will use the method it recently found to unlock the iPhone in the San
Bernardino case. But that may not help with public perception that the
floodgates have opened.
As Troy Wolverton wrote earlier this week, “if we didn’t
realize it before, Apple’s software is clearly a target.” He also pointed out
that “there’s a good chance that the FBI won’t be the only one targeting
iPhones.”
What’s more, some security experts are saying the company
may not get the FBI to cooperate and share how it was able to hack into the San
Bernardino shooter’s iPhone — making it harder for Apple to identify and fix
the vulnerability. But Reuters, which wrote about how a review process might
work — a White House group is supposed to review security flaws and decide
whether to disclose them — found someone who thinks there’s a “strong case” for
giving Apple the information it needs.
“The process emphasizes the importance of defense for
widely used, commercial software,” Peter Swire, a law professor at the Georgia
Institute of Technology who served on the White House group that recommended
the administration disclose most flaws, told Reuters.
In other news about unlocking iPhones:
• A mother in Louisiana wants help in unlocking the iPhone
of her dead daughter, hoping it will lead to clues about the killing of
Brittney Mills, who was 29 and pregnant when she was shot to death. Apple
turned over iCloud data, but won’t help break the encryption on the phone. East
Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore tells NPR that he’s waiting to hear
from the FBI about whether it can help unlock Mills’ phone.
• A father in Italy has reportedly written to Apple CEO
Tim Cook to ask the company to unlock his dead son’s iPhone so he can retrieve
photos from it. The boy was 13 when he died of cancer. If Apple refuses, the
father reportedly intends to turn to Cellebrite, the Israeli mobile forensics
firm that’s rumored to have helped the FBI unlock the phone in the San
Bernardino case.
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