Why Apple is on the side of National Security and not the FBI

John Rob

The FBI wants access to the encrypted data on an iphone owned by one of the the San Bernardino terrorists.  The FBI has already gotten access to the data this iphone uploaded to Apple's cloud. However, the FBI thinks there is more data on the phone that wasn't uploaded. Here's a quick recap:

• The FBI can't access information on the iphone because the brute force technique the agency uses to "guess" user passwords doesn't work with the iphone. Brute force password guessing would cause the phone to permanently block access to the data after 10 attempts if that option is turned on (and they think it is). Even with the option off, it could take up 5.5 years to crack the password, because the iphone inserts a 10 ms delay between password attempts.  
• The FBI went to court to force Apple to provide them with a way to turn off the features that prevent them from using their simple password guessing technique in the future.
• Apple refused, because it is currently engaged in a struggle with the Chinese government over the same issue. Apple knows that if it complies with the FBI on this, it will become the rope in a violent tug of war between the two governments over who gets access to encrypted iphone data. Since 25% of Apple's sales and nearly all of its growth is coming from China, it's clear they would like to avoid making a choice between the US and China.

More here

Why you should side with Apple, not the FBI, in the San Bernardino iPhone case - By Bruce Schneier
Either everyone gets security, or no one does. Earlier this week, a federal magistrate ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple will fight this order in court. The policy implications are complicated. The FBI wants to set a precedent that tech companies will assist law enforcement in breaking their users’ security, and the technology community is afraid that the precedent will limit what sorts of security features it can offer customers. The FBI sees this as a privacy vs. security debate, while the tech community sees it as a security vs. surveillance debate.......

Why Apple Is Right To Reject The FBI’s Push To Brute Force iPhone Security -  by Natasha Lomas (@riptari)

Apple is under pressure from the FBI to backdoor iPhone 5c security. The company is taking a public, principled stance on this, which is in line with its recent public pro-privacy defense of encryption. Yesterday it released a customer statement explaining that it will fight the court order, which is asking for some very specific technical assistance in order to enable the FBI to access data on an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

Specifically the court order asks Apple: to bypass or disable an auto-erase function that wipes iPhone data after a certain number of incorrect attempts to unlock the device; to enable the FBI to attempt to brute force the passcode on the device without having to manually type passcodes into the handset but rather by affording them the ability to submit attempts via another device connected to the iPhone; and to remove a time-delay between passcode submissions, again to enable the FBI to try to brute force the passcode without having to wait a certain number of milliseconds between each attempt.  Apple couches this order as the government asking it to create a backdoor into its software. And so do plenty of others….....

"The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable"........

Apple vs. FBI is epic fight over privacy and national security - By James Queally, Richard Winton, Paresh Dave and Brian BennettContact Reporters

Legal experts say the battle between the federal government and Apple Inc. over unlocking the contents of an iPhone is about more than simply helping investigate the San Bernardino terrorist attack.    "The FBI's request ... represents the next step in the journey to find the Holy Grail of backdoor unencryption, and the next salvo in the ever-escalating battle between law enforcement and tech companies," said Robert Cattanach, a cybersecurity attorney and former Department of Justice special counsel.  The dispute between Silicon Valley and the federal government has been brewing for some time, but this is expected to become the defining case........