Apple refuses to crack the iPhone criminals to help the FBI

The modern titanium market of technology Apple continues to defend its right to refuse the FBI to unlock the phone of one of the terrorists who were guilty of massacre in California last December.

Situation to date

In early December 2015 in the Californian city of San Bernardino a tragedy occurred. A couple of couples shot employees of the center for helping people with disabilities. A total of 14 people died, another 22 were seriously injured. The terrorists were US citizens of Arab origin.

FBI employees seized the iPhone 5C model from one of the shooters, but they can not crack the protection delivered by the criminal. Apple provides unique security for its devices, and the company itself is not able to crack their protection. In addition, after repeatedly entering the wrong access code, the information on the media is completely destroyed.

The FBI requires Apple to create a firmware that allows cracking existing protection. The FBI calls such a system a "back door" to the device. The Federal Bureau of Investigation even has a court order obliging the company to fulfill the agency's demands. Apple CEO flatly refuses to cooperate, explaining this by the fact that such firmware will nullify the decade of work on one of the safest operating systems in the world.

Debate

This topic has become the cause of world disputes. Each side provides unequivocal arguments in its favor, but no one agrees to compromise.

The FBI hopes that by unlocking the phone, they will have access to additional information and clues that can find and bring to justice other terrorists involved in the tragedy.

Company Arguments

Apple, in turn, argues that the creation of such a program will allow state structures to gain access to any product of the company, without the consent of the owners. In addition, the very existence of the possibility of a "backdoor" makes Apple products vulnerable not only to state law enforcement agencies, but also to outsiders and organizations.

In the hands of criminals, such firmware can become a tool for access to private and valuable information, because today in the memory of phones, tablets, computers and other devices of the company contains not only personal information, but also professional information, as well as numbers and codes of bank accounts and credit cards.

Apple is experiencing not only its reputation and trust, which companies have provided users and buyers, but also about the possible violation of international law. After all, it is impossible to guarantee that the firmware will only work on the devices used in the US.

What is the FBI with?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation repeatedly received proposals from independent experts and even hackers to crack the terrorist's phone. It would seem that this decision should suit both sides of the conflict, but not everything is so simple.

FBI experts or hired professionals during the hacking of the phone or attempting to bypass its security system are able "from the reverse" to create a firmware or crack program, which is strictly prohibited by law and can lead to multi-billion lawsuits.

IOS weaknesses

As shown by past experience, the protection system can be partially bypassed using the "personal assistant" built into the system - Siri. This is quite easy, but does not give full access to the data. Such a circumvention of the protection will allow the FBI to gain access to contacts and photos.

You can try to crack the phone with brute force, choosing a password using various programs. But it can be dangerous - there is a risk of losing all data, and this the FBI can not afford. The agency needs to keep all the information, because it is not known how valuable any of its elements may be to the investigation.

If the FBI had the opportunity to copy the original information from the phone and be absolutely sure of its integrity and security (which in this case is impossible), only then it would be possible to use brute force in hacking the device. But the Bureau prefers not to take risks.

Why FBI Apple?

Given the resources freely available to the FBI, the question itself begs: Is the Bureau not in a position to independently secure access to classified information? All these supercomputers, specialists and a huge budget ... Does a government organization need help from a manufacturer? Surely the FBI has the ability to copy the encoded data and try to decode it on its own.

It is worth noting that the standard encryption algorithm iOS - AES-256 - the same as that used by the National Security Agency. However, the access code chosen by the owner for protection is entered in an unreadable format, and without it, the decryption of data will take a huge amount of money and time. This is probably the main reason why the FBI is trying to blame the creation of a backdoor on Apple.

In addition, after high-profile scandals around government monitoring programs, the public is increasingly asking: does the government have an automatic right to access private data. Therefore, the government organization is easier to rid itself of unnecessary responsibility and unnecessary waste, simply obliging the manufacturer to create the necessary firmware, despite the firm refusal of this company itself.

Among other things, Apple is afraid of creating a precedent that will allow any law enforcement agencies and government organizations to demand that they provide similar services in the future on the basis of a similar court order.