It appears that the FBI is not willing to share with Apple the mechanism they used to crack the encryption of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.
In February, the FBI held a case against Apple because the company refused to code a backdoor for the encryption built in the device. Apple argued that creating a backdoor would put at risk the security of its customers. According to a statement released by chief executive officer, Tim Cook, the FBI in taking a dangerous procedure. He added that its demand represents a violation of the freedoms and liberty the government should be protecting.
In March, the public outcry forced the FBI to abandon the case against Apple; but far from giving up, the agency looked for another way to crack the iPhone’s encryption. FBI hired an undisclosed third-party to unlock the device and, according to Tech Times, over $1 million was paid to purchase the hacking tool to access the data on terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook’s encrypted iPhone.
The FBI is about to present a report to the White House about the method used to crack iPhone encryption and make some recommendations to the White House’s Vulnerabilities Equities Process, said FBI director, James Comey, at a cybersecurity conference in Washington.
The FBI could be close to giving Apple the information it needs
Following the White House disclosure policy, government officials must decide whether newly discovered software and hardware vulnerabilities need to be notified to companies so they can be patched. The multi-agency review council was set up by the Obama administration.
Even though Apple is the wait to see if the FBI will provide the security details needed to fix the bugs used to break iPhone’s encryption, the company promised to continue to improve the security of all its products and to develop patches for future vulnerabilities, said Apple in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. In the other hand, the FBI affirms to be unsure of having the security details Apple needs to code a patch, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Early this week, during an event at Georgetown University, chief James Comey stated that the agency was trying to decide whether to disclose the details of the iPhone bug as part of a White House disclosure program that seeks to help companies to be aware of possible vulnerabilities in their software with the potential to affect their customers.
Source: Tech Times