The Future of Terrorism in the Hands of Apple
What if you had the ability to unlock a phone that could possibly bring an end to future terrorism? Would you unlock it? Apple is in a similar position right now.
After a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 dead and 22 wounded, the FBI found an iPhone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, the man responsible for the attacks. Now, the FBI is requesting to unlock that IPhone.
However, Apple is making a stand because the government wants it to create a code that would disable a feature that erases all content after 10 failed password attempts. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, says “For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data… We must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the US govt.” Chief executives said that if this happens, other law enforcement requests throughout the US, China and even Russia will rise, putting customers’ data at risk.
Apple and FBI Work Together to Hack Into California Gunman’s Phone
The FBI went to tech giant Apple to see if they can create a software to hack into the phone of the California gunman.
The Obama administration told a U.S. magistrate judge on Friday it would be willing to allow Apple to retain possession of and later destroy the specialized software. The software has been ordered to design to help the FBI hack into an encrypted iPhone used by the gunman in December’s mass shootings in California. Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, said the software would be “too dangerous to create” because it would threaten the digital privacy of millions of iPhone customers worldwide. The specialized software would bypass a security time delay and self-destruct feature that erases all data after 10 consecutive, unsuccessful attempts to guess the unlocking passcode; “No one outside Apple would have access to the software required by the order unless Apple itself chose to share it.” This would allow the FBI to use technology to rapidly and repeatedly test numbers in what’s known as a brute force attack.
Senior Apple executives said during a phone call with reporters Friday that the company (Apple) had worked for hours, even days, with federal officials and investigators to try to gain access to Farook’s iPhone. The House Energy and Commerce Committee invited Apple CEO Tim Cook and FBI Director James Comey to appear before it to discuss encryption technologies and issues of privacy and national security, asking both to tell people how they plan to move forward.