Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons
license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary
on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the
entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/


           FBI Cracks Pensacola Shooter's iPhone, Still Mad at Apple

   Josh Centers

   Apple is in [1]yet another feud over encryption with the US Federal
   Bureau of Investigation, this time over iPhones owned by the Pensacola
   naval base shooter (see '[2]Is the FBI Gearing Up for Another
   Encryption Fight with Apple?,' 9 January 2020). Apple refused the FBI's
   requests to create a backdoor that would enable breaking the iPhone's
   encryption. However, the FBI was able to [3]break into one of the
   phones with an automated passcode guesser, perhaps in part because the
   iPhones in question were so old: an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 7.

   Unsurprisingly, the FBI still isn't happy. FBI Director Christopher
   Wray went out of his way in the announcement to say that the agency
   received 'no help from Apple.' Apple quickly responded with a detailed
   rebuttal on how it had aided the investigation:

     We provided every piece of information available to us, including
     iCloud backups, account information and transactional data for
     multiple accounts, and we lent continuous and ongoing technical and
     investigative support to FBI offices in Jacksonville, Pensacola and
     New York over the months since.

   Apple didn't stop there, accusing the FBI of trying to hurt both its
   customers and national security in general: 'The false claims made
   about our company are an excuse to weaken encryption and other security
   measures that protect millions of users and our national security.'

   FBI Director Christopher Wray

   This tension between Apple and the FBI has been going on for years,
   dating back to the Obama administration and James Comey's FBI. The
   standoff will likely continue, given that the government is willfully
   ignoring the fact that it's impossible to build products with a
   backdoor that can be accessed only by law enforcement when supported by
   a court order.

   [4]Read original article

References

   Visible links
   1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/apple-pushes-back-against-false-claims-after-fbi-criticism
   2. https://tidbits.com/2020/01/09/is-the-fbi-gearing-up-for-another-encryption-fight-with-apple/
   3. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fbi-cracked-another-iphone-it-s-still-not-happy-apple-n1209506
   4. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/apple-pushes-back-against-false-claims-after-fbi-criticism

   Hidden links:
   5. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2020/05/Christopher-Wray.jpg

.