How can the FBI not crack one iphone s encryption?

Question

NOT A MORAL QUESTION a technical question. I consider myself above average in technology, but I don t get why the FBI needs help on this. I understand the phone erases everything after x amount of attempts, but surely taking out the storage and attacking it from a separate OS bypasses that feature? Similar to when you forget your password on a device, then boot it from an external drive and change/recover it that way.

Answer 1

iOS devices have multiple levels of encryption. One layer is based on the devices UDID



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDID



so trying to access it outside the device is a non-starter.



There is then a key that is built in when the phone is made and it is that which matches the passcode and disables the device if the correct passcode is not found - but again the phone needs to be alive and intact or the key is not going to work.



See...



https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf





So the FBI are basically asking for a special version of iOS to be created that will bypass these layers and allow them to access the phone without fear of it shutting them out and erasing all the contents....



https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2714001/SB-Shooter-Order-Compelling-Apple-Asst-iPhone.pdf

Answer 2

I'll place this on both sides of the spectrum.



Apple does not have the hardware / software available (as far as they claim) to access the personal information stored onto an iPhone. If they were to create this hardware / software for what the Obama Administration says is "one device" would be both technologically and physically impossible. For Apple to create a back-door for one Apple device, would mean them creating a back-door for all iOS devices running the same version of the software. This being because the security is held within the operating system, not the physical phone itself.



The FBI could use the "brute-force" method to break the iPhone, although it would not be within a feasible timeframe considering the task at hand, and the nature of the action. The brute-force method would beat the time delay between iOS recognizing an invalid password, and creating one less attempt before it locks the phone and dumps the data. Again, this could take years.



I hope this provides some insight on the situation.

Answer 3

The data is encrypted and needs the passcode to unlock, the phone may have a security feature which wipes all data after a certain amount t of failed attempts. The FBI is asking apple to develop software which will allow them to bypass this feature so they can run a brute force attack against the phone. Why this can't be done without their help, I don't know.

Answer 4

Whether the FBA can or can't get into that one phone is not the issue. What the Obama administration is trying force Apple to do is build a phone that CAN be gotten into WITHOUT needing a search warrant. If that ever happens, nobody's phone is ever safe from being gotten into without them knowing about it. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the only way to ensure that such a capability to enter a phone would never be abused is to NEVER build a phone with that capability. And he's correct. And that's why Google and other tech companies are lining up with Apple.



You can't rely on the current media to give you the truth. All you hear is that Apple won't cooperate with the feds in helping them get into a terrorist's phone. The Obama administration is acting like an illusionist, waving the shiny object ' terrorism' in your face so that you don't see what they're really doing - trying to get a way to get into every phone, at will.

Answer 5

All the data on the drive is encrypted, you can't just pop it out & read it. Maybe you could try to get the key by brute-force methods, but that might take a long, long time.

Answer 6

It is not just about terrorism, it is all about our security, they who know that what they are trying to do it is like kill two with one arrow, your question is genuine why not FBI, I think FBI won't take one side responsibility they want that whole world know about this and want big companies to be part of that, so that they later not blame on government to allow FBI to spy on any phone or our personal details without our permission.

Answer 7

this issue came up on a certain radio show yesterday.

the host suggested that the FBI is pretending to need help, to cover for the fact that our government already has the capability to crack into the phone, and has already done so.

Answer 8

The new iOS locks up if false entry is detected after some tries, so FBI can't brute-force the unlock screen.

Answer 9

They only get 10 tries before the phone locks permanently. That's the main issue here.



They would have been better off going to the company and asking for that specific phone to be unlocked.

Answer 10

They can, it's all a lie. If it were true they can just Crack it, besides the nsa has access. Again, it's all all lie.

Answer 11

lol, it cracks me up how everyone thinks they are an expert on it.