FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption 'urgent public safety issue'
FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption 'urgent public
safety issue'
By Dustin Volz January 9, 2018
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The inability of law enforcement
authorities to access data from electronic devices due to powerful encryption
is an "urgent public safety issue," FBI Director Christopher Wray
said on Tuesday as he sought to renew a contentious debate over privacy and
security.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was unable to access
data from nearly 7,800 devices in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 with
technical tools despite possessing proper legal authority to pry them open, a
growing figure that impacts every area of the agency's work, Wray said during a
speech at a cyber security conference in New York.
The FBI has been unable to access data in more than half
of the devices that it tried to unlock due to encryption, Wray added.
"This is an urgent public safety issue," Wray
added, while saying that a solution is "not so clear cut."
Technology companies and many digital security experts
have said that the FBI's attempts to require that devices allow investigators a
way to access a criminal suspect's cellphone would harm internet security and
empower malicious hackers. U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, have expressed little
interest in pursuing legislation to require companies to create products whose
contents are accessible to authorities who obtain a warrant.
Wray's comments at the International Conference on Cyber
Security were his most extensive yet as FBI director about the so-called Going
Dark problem, which his agency and local law enforcement authorities for years
have said bedevils countless investigations. Wray took over as FBI chief in
August.
The FBI supports strong encryption and information
security broadly, Wray said, but described the current status quo as untenable.
"We face an enormous and increasing number of cases
that rely heavily, if not exclusively, on electronic evidence," Wray told
an audience of FBI agents, international law enforcement representatives and
private sector cyber professionals. A solution requires "significant
innovation," Wray said, "but I just do not buy the claim that it is
impossible."
Wray's remarks echoed those of his predecessor, James
Comey, who before being fired by President Donald Trump in May frequently spoke
about the dangers of unbreakable encryption.
Tech companies and many cyber security experts have said
that any measure ensuring that law enforcement authorities are able to access
data from encrypted products would weaken cyber security for everyone.
U.S. officials have said that default encryption settings
on cellphones and other devices hinder their ability to collect evidence needed
to pursue criminals.
The matter came to a head in 2016 when the Justice
Department tried unsuccessfully to force Apple Inc to break into an iPhone used
by a gunman during a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
The Trump administration at times has taken a tougher
stance on the issue than former President Barack Obama's administration. U.S.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in October chastised technology
companies for building strongly encrypted products, suggesting Silicon Valley
is more willing to comply with foreign government demands for data than those
made by their home country.
(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Will Dunham)
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