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Apple remains in dark on how FBI hacked iPhone without help
townhall.com ^ | 3/30/2016 | Tami Abdollah

Posted on 03/30/2016 5:56:43 AM PDT by rktman

The FBI's announcement that it mysteriously hacked into an iPhone is a public setback for Apple Inc., as consumers learned that they can't keep the government out of even an encrypted device that U.S. officials had claimed was impossible to crack. Apple, meanwhile, remains in the dark about how to restore the security of its flagship product.

The government said it was able to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in a mass shooting in California, but it didn't say how. That puzzled Apple software engineers — and outside experts — about how the FBI broke the digital locks on the phone without Apple's help. It also complicated Apple's job repairing flaws that jeopardize its software.

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: cellphones; hackers
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To: CodeToad

More likely: NSA had the original iCloud setup session on file and recovered the original password, reset it, synced the phone with the home network, and reset it from the iCloud. Which is what would have happened if the stupid IT guy hadn’t reset the iCloud password in the first place.


41 posted on 03/30/2016 7:57:14 AM PDT by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: Ransomed
What court case?

Any and all future court cases stemming from the data that was on that phone.

If it became known that the evidence was acquired illegally, by long standing precedence, that evidence would be tainted and the case would be dismissed.

Would you be happy to have a decade's worth of terrorist convictions thrown out on a technicality?

42 posted on 03/30/2016 8:27:41 AM PDT by null and void ("when authority began inspiring contempt, it had stopped being authority" ~ H. Beam Piper)
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To: null and void

Instead of making a public case against Apple to break it, even though they already really have what is on it, so that they would have a cover story on how they got it in court, why didn’t they just plan to say this other private company got it for them when the time comes? Why let Apple make a big deal about it in public? How does this help?

Freegards


43 posted on 03/30/2016 8:36:53 AM PDT by Ransomed
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To: rktman

Probably watched a youtube on it.


44 posted on 03/30/2016 8:55:25 AM PDT by ebshumidors
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To: rktman

Just like a 4 year old with cookie crumbs on his face swearing he doesn’t know where the cookie went.


45 posted on 03/30/2016 11:01:18 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: The Truth Will Make You Free

Made a virtual iPhone by pulling the chips and copying their contents to RAM in a iPhone software modeller somewhere.


46 posted on 03/30/2016 11:08:24 AM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc OMorgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: rktman
Hmm...I'm guessing it isn't that Apple doesn't know how it could be done so much as they don't know which way (of several possibilities) it was done. It's a slightly different thing. It wasn't done "without help" at all, it just wasn't with Apple's help.

This is, as someone said up-thread, largely kabuki theater. The FBI didn't get their private back door (we think), which was probably the real point behind the affair in the first place. That's a win. The FBI got the information for which it had a warrant. That's a win too. Either that or I'm completely misinterpreting the whole thing, which wouldn't be the first time and won't be the last. ;-)

47 posted on 03/30/2016 11:21:02 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: anton

Exactly, it’s for FUD.


48 posted on 03/30/2016 11:22:11 AM PDT by Squeako (Trump: "I put cyanide in the Kool-Aid, and my voters still drink it, okay? It's like incredible.")
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To: Ransomed
Apple, with the full might of the federal government and all that implies: IRS audits, OSHA inspections, EPA fines, Labor relations board grievances, unfavorable court decisions, federal procurement black listing, etc., etc. etc., was supposed to go along with the program.

Who wouldn't? Go up against the Federal Leviathan? That's crazy talk!

Apple did it anyway. That boxed both them and the FBI into a corner.

The FBI was first to figure out how to get out of that corner by blandly claiming nvrmnd, we cracked it widout you.

49 posted on 03/30/2016 11:46:11 AM PDT by null and void ("when authority began inspiring contempt, it had stopped being authority" ~ H. Beam Piper)
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To: null and void

Dude I think we must be talking past each other or I am just not getting it, which isn’t all that unusual. Sorry.

Why not just say it was broken by this private company in the first place? Why did they take it up with Apple in public court, who had every commercial motive to justify not complying?

Freegards


50 posted on 03/30/2016 11:56:24 AM PDT by Ransomed
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To: Phlap
... it is computer science which, unlike art climate science, can be duplicated.
51 posted on 03/30/2016 11:56:56 AM PDT by kitchen (If you are a luthier please ping me.)
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To: Ransomed
The FBI expected Apple to roll over and play dead.

That was their Plan A.

The literally couldn't imagine any company operating in the United States would dare defy them.

When Apple didn't act like a good little Kapo *cough* soros *cough* they were stuck.

The rule of thumb for a lawyer in court is never ask a question you don't know the answer to.

The FBI assumed Apple would say 'yassa massa', or else. No muss, no fuss, and the FBI gets a back-door adaptable to any iPhone.

They were wrong.

52 posted on 03/30/2016 12:38:54 PM PDT by null and void ("when authority began inspiring contempt, it had stopped being authority" ~ H. Beam Piper)
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To: Ransomed
Dude I think we must be talking past each other or I am just not getting it, which isn’t all that unusual. Sorry.

Or I'm just not explaining it clearly (or I could even be wrong? Naaaah!)

53 posted on 03/30/2016 12:40:51 PM PDT by null and void ("when authority began inspiring contempt, it had stopped being authority" ~ H. Beam Piper)
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To: null and void

I guess I have a hard time believeing that they didn’t know what Apple would do, that doesn’t make sense to me. Just call them up and ask. If the whole point is to have a cover story to explain in court having the stuff they actually got illegally or whatever, why didn’t they then just say, ‘OK, we’ll use this other company to explain how we got it.’ It might not even make the news cycle that way. Of course I could absolutely be wrong.

The whole thing being drawn out in public is weird. If it was supposedly this darn easy to do without Apple, what could have been the reason not to just do that first? I mean how long was the court case going to draw out?

Freegards


54 posted on 03/30/2016 1:36:01 PM PDT by Ransomed
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To: null and void

“Because they were ILLEGALY obtaining the data... “


So, exactly what law(s) did the FBI supposedly break while investigating this terrorist incident by unlocking the data on the phone without Apple’s help as you claim?


55 posted on 03/30/2016 6:56:52 PM PDT by Synthesist
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To: Synthesist

Read it again. That is almost exactly the opposite of what I claimed.


56 posted on 03/30/2016 7:06:45 PM PDT by null and void ("when authority began inspiring contempt, it had stopped being authority" ~ H. Beam Piper)
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To: rktman; Swordmaker
I believe quite sincerely that Apple has a very good idea how the FBI's team (and/or the Israeli team) got the data out of the phone, even if they don't have the exact details. It is obvious to me that Apple knows, like the rest of us, that physical possession of ANY computer system is "game over" if you have the right tools.

The FBI didn't have to "decrypt" the data or "break into" the phone -- they worked AROUND the encryption with tools not available to the average person. Data storage is just hardware -- there is virtually ALWAYS a way as long as you can get to the chips.

Apple is in no danger, nor are their products or customers -- these techniques are not something that can be replicated in quantity.

57 posted on 03/30/2016 7:12:32 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: rktman; ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1234; Abundy; Action-America; acoulterfan; AFreeBird; Airwinger; Aliska; ...
Does "Apple remain in dark on how FBI hacked iPhone without help"? — PING!


Is Apple in the Dark?
Ping!

The latest Apple/Mac/iOS Pings can be found by searching Keyword "ApplePingList" on FreeRepublic's Search.

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me

58 posted on 03/30/2016 8:00:18 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
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To: CodeToad
Apple lied and is now feigning surprise and ignorance.

Apple isn't the liar. You are.

59 posted on 03/30/2016 8:01:22 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
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To: rktman

Apple gave them the code and the rest is elaborate ruse to give Apple cover.


60 posted on 03/30/2016 8:07:31 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.)
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