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A group of Johns Hopkins University researchers found a bug in Apple’s encryptionthat would let a skilled attacker decrypt photos and videos that were sent as secure instant messages. (Matthias Schrader/AP) Apple’s growing arsenal of encryption techniques — shielding data on devices as well as real-time video calls and instant messages — has spurred the U.S. government to sound the alarm that such tools are putting the communications of terrorists and criminals out of the reach of law enforcement. But a group of Johns Hopkins University researchers has found a bug in the company’s vaunted encryption, one that would enable...

Google in 2012 sought to help insurgents overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to State Department emails receiving fresh scrutiny this week. Messages between former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's team and one of the company's executives detailed the plan for Google to get involved in the region.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has broken with other Silicon Valley giants by backing the FBI in its battle with Apple over hacking into a locked iPhone as part of the investigation into last December's San Bernardino terror attack. In an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday, Gates said a court order requiring Apple to help the FBI access a work phone belonging to gunman Syed Farook was " a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case."

Levin: Populism is Progressivism, Which is Statism (audio: 12:41)

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Should the FBI win its ongoing legal battle with Apple, resulting in the Cupertino company being ordered to unlock the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, some Apple engineers may decide not to cooperate with law enforcement.

We’ve discovered a new family of iOS malware that successfully infected non-jailbroken devices we’ve named “AceDeceiver”. What makes AceDeceiver different from previous iOS malware is that instead of abusing enterprise certificates as some iOS malware has over the past two years, AceDeceiver manages to install itself without any enterprise certificate at all. It does so by exploiting design flaws in Apple’s DRM mechanism, and even as Apple has removed AceDeceiver from App Store, it may still spread thanks to a novel attack vector. AceDeceiver is the first iOS malware we’ve seen that abuses certain design flaws in Apple’s DRM protection...

A man has been charged with hacking the Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts of celebrities and stealing nude photos and videos from them.The US authorities say Ryan Collins has agreed to plead guilty to the offence. Prosecutors have recommended that he face a jail term of 18 months, although a judge could extend that to five years.The 36-year-old is alleged to have stolen usernames and passwords via a phishing scam.The Department of Justice said that the Pennsylvania-based Collins had admitted to breaking into more than 100 accounts between November 2012 and September 2014. < He is said to have achieved...

Three years ago, reeling from Edward J. Snowden's disclosure of the government's vast surveillance programs and uncertain how to respond, President Obama said he welcomed a vigorous public debate about the wrenching trade-offs between safeguarding personal privacy and tracking down potential terrorists. "It's healthy for our democracy," he told reporters at the time. "I think it's a sign of maturity." But the national debate touched off this winter by the confrontation between the Justice Department and Apple over smartphone security is not exactly the one Mr. Obama had in mind. Mr. Snowden's revelations produced modest changes and a heightened suspicion...

WASHINGTON — While the Justice Department wages a public fight with Apple over access to a locked iPhone, government officials are privately debating how to resolve a prolonged standoff with another technology company, WhatsApp, over access to its popular instant messaging application, officials and others involved in the case said. No decision has been made, but a court fight with WhatsApp, the world’s largest mobile messaging service, would open a new front in the Obama administration’s dispute with Silicon Valley over encryption, security and privacy. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, allows customers to send messages and make phone calls...

Apple’s March 21st special event invitation (below) features the message: “Let us loop you in.” What could this cryptic sentence mean?Well, Apple does offer the stainless steel (silver) Milanese Loop for Apple Watch and there are rumblings of a new black Milanese Loop coming at the event, but it that really enough to warrant being the marquee on the special event’s invitation?What if the phrase refers to Apple Smart Bands? Or “Smart Loops?” Think Apple Watch bands loops that add extra functionality (GPS, for just one example) to the Apple Watch.Wouldn’t such a Smart Loop or a line of Smart...

The FBI wants Apple to do something no private company has ever been forced to do: break its own technology. Specifically, the FBI wants Apple to build a new version of its mobile operating system (iOS, or GovOS) so that the contents of an iPhone can be removed from an iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino shooting.A magistrate judge recently ordered Apple to comply with this request; Apple in turn filed a Motion to Vacate (MTV) the magistrate’s order. The key point made in the MTV — and the key issue on which...

Apple is fighting FBI court order to create software to unlock an iPhone Head of services Eddy Cue says agreeing could lead to more drastic orders He warns FBI could next be asking to eavesdrop on microphones The DOJ hit back on Thursday, accused Apple of 'raising security barriers' DOJ suggested they could hand over source code for entire operating system 'as an alternative that requires less labor by Apple programmers'

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Barack Obama sided with law enforcement Friday in the debate pitting encryption and personal privacy against national security, arguing that authorities must be able to access data held on electronic devices because the "dangers are real." Appearing at an annual tech festival in the Texas capital, Obama delivered his most extensive comments to date on an issue currently being played out in federal court. Apple, one of the world's largest technology companies, is challenging the government's request that it help the FBI access data on a cellphone that was used in the San Bernardino, California,...

If Apple wouldn't comply with a court order, sheriff vows: "I'll lock the rascal up." Link only due to copyright concerns: Florida sheriff pledges to arrest CEO Tim Cook if Apple resists crypto cooperation LINK

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday made a passionate case for mobile devices to be built in such a way as to allow government to gain access to personal data if needed to prevent a terrorist attack or enforce tax laws. Speaking at the South by Southwest festival in Texas, Obama said he could not comment on the legal case in which the FBI is trying to force Apple Inc. to allow access to an iPhone linked to San Bernardino, California, shooter Rizwan Farook. But he made clear that, despite his commitment to Americans' privacy and...

AUSTIN -- President Obama defended government efforts to preserve law enforcement access to digital devices Friday, telling a crowd that included many technology innovators that society cannot end up "fetishizing our phones above every other value." Obama made his remarks during a keynote discussion at the yearly South by Southwest Interactive conference here, after being asked by Texas Tribune journalist Evan Smith to comment on the larger implications of the pending fight between the FBI and Apple over access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in December's terrorist attack in San Bernardino. "The question we now have...

The FBI's attempts to force Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists is not just about accessing information about the attack, but changing the architecture of the device's mobile operating system, former CIA director James Woolsey said Friday. "The last time I looked into the language on this with some care, it did seem to me as if the FBI was trying to get a right essentially to effectively decide what kind of an operating system Apple was going to have, and that they were not just trying to get into one phone. They...

The first known ransomware targeted at Apple's Mac computers was only downloaded about 6500 times, according to a representative for the Transmission project, whose software was used to launch the attack. Transmission representative John Clay said the ransomware was added to disk-image of its software after the project's server was compromised in an attack. "We're not commenting on the avenue of attack, other than to say that it was our main server that was compromised," he said. "The normal disk image [was] replaced by the compromised one." He said security on the server had since been increased and the group...

The Department of Justice slammed Apple for "false" and "corrosive" rhetoric in a new document released Thursday. The document is the DOJ's legal response to Apple's refusal to comply to the United States District Court in California, which ordered Apple to assist the FBI. The FBI will face off against Apple at a March 22 hearing in Riverside, Calif.