Despite recent comments by President Obama, the White House won't publicly support upcoming draft legislation that would let judges order companies like Apple to help decrypt their products, a report said on Thursday.
The unlocking procedure used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to break into an iPhone 5c at the center of the San Bernardino case cannot be used on new devices, the bureau's director said on Wednesday.
After engaging Apple in a high-profile court battle to unlock a terror suspect's iPhone, the FBI remains mum as to whether or not data gleaned from the device is "useful" to investigators.
Citing inside sources, reports this week claim Israeli data forensics firm Cellebrite provided the FBI with technology to extract information from an iPhone 5c linked to San Bernardino terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook.
The FBI may be entitled to keep secret the technique it used to break into the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, as a result of a special White House group designed to review digital security flaws uncovered by federal agencies.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday agreed to assist prosecutors in unlocking an iPhone 6 and iPod linked to an Arkansas murder trial, but whether the agency is is leveraging its newfound iPhone exploit is unclear. in cases beyond San Bernardino.
The U.S. federal government has invoked the All Writs Act at least 63 times to compel Apple and Google to help unlock devices involved in investigations, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Wednesday.
Apple got more than it bargained for in its stand against government snooping. With the FBI keeping mum on methods used to extract data from an iPhone tied to last year's San Bernardino terror attack, Apple must patch a security hole it knows nothing about, a task one report suggests is made more difficult by a recent reorganization of its security team.
The Department of Justice on Monday filed to withdraw a legal action compelling Apple's assistance in unlocking an iPhone linked to last year's San Bernardino shootings, saying it successfully gained access to, and extracted data from, the target device.
Apple on Thursday filed to extend the briefing schedule of a court case in New York regarding a passcode protected iPhone, saying proceedings should be delayed until the FBI reports on the viability of a potential encryption workaround in a tangentially related case in San Bernardino.
Whether or not Cellebrite is involved, the FBI may be able to unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook through a process known as "NAND mirroring," security researchers explained on Wednesday.
An Israeli forensic software company, Cellebrite, is helping the FBI try to unlock the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, according to a national newspaper.
According to a report on Monday, U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee leaders are circulating a draft bill that would give federal courts liberal authority to compel tech company compliance with government requests for access to encrypted data.
In a last minute motion filed in the ongoing San Bernardino iPhone encryption case, the DOJ on Monday asked a federal court to vacate a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, saying an outside party has come forward with a potential unlock method that would negate the need for Apple's assistance.
A bug has been discovered in Apple's iMessage encryption by security researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who have collaborated with the company to help patch the issue in the upcoming iOS 9.3 software update, set to be released to the public today.
The U.S. government filed, and was subsequently granted, a request to allow prosecutors and Apple attorneys the chance to present and cross examine witnesses at next week's court hearing over unlocking an encrypted iPhone tied to last year's San Bernardino attack.
The FBI this week sent out a warning to car makers and owners, alerting them to potential security holes in automotive software, all while still pushing Apple to create a method to break into securely encrypted iPhones.
According to a report published Thursday, a number of high-level Apple employees would rather quit their jobs than comply with a court order compelling the creation of an intentionally flawed version of iOS, currently being sought by the FBI in its investigation into the San Bernardino shootings.
In a Time Magazine interview published on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook railed against the U.S. government's approach to the battle over encryption, claiming he was "offended" by statements leveled against the company, as well as the way the government is pursuing data from the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter.
In a move sure to complicate the ongoing Apple vs. FBI court case, Apple is reportedly developing stronger iCloud encryption methods that would prevent even it from accessing and extracting user data protected by a passcode.
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Roger Fingas
AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
Neil Hughes
