undefined | Better HN

0 pointsacqq10y ago0 comments

> from the perspective of Apple, as nothing more than a ribbon, as Apple already has "unfettered access to [your] data"

No! Since iOS8 Apple intentionally encrypts the user's data on the phone in a way that even they don't have access to them.

They have access to the hardware, to be able to reconfigure it, but not the encrypted data on the phone. Because the data is encrypted, intentionally so.

And they have access to the iCloud backup data and they gave that data to the FBI. Then FBI actually locked their access to the phone by changing the iCloud password.

0 comments

saurik10y ago

This is an iPhone 5C, which does not have the "secure enclave" feature, and it isn't even clear helps as Apple has stated to reporters that it is possible to do what the FBI wants, so we know the software on that component must be mutable. If it was actually impossible to do the thing the FBI wanted them to do then we would not even be having this discussion today: Apple would just say "can't, sorry" and the FBI would be forced to move on with their lives as nothing Apple could do would help them get access to the device.

acqqOP10y ago

Secure Enclave is irrelevant here. Even without Secure Enclave the data on iPhone 5C is encrypted with the user's password and Apple doesn't have access to the data as it doesn't have user's password, contrary to your claim that "Apple has the access to the data." No, FBI has access, but only to the encrypted data.

And FBI can't decrypt it. They locked themselves out of the phone, actually. And the phone is not the private phone of the killer, he destroyed that one, and his computer too. And note that he didn't care about this phone.

FBI demands from Apple to change their product (iOS) to make the encryption cracking attempts by FBI easier.

saurik10y ago

It takes mere minutes for us to crack the 4- digit passcode on the iPhone 4 (which I only specify as that's where we were last able to easily do this in the jailbreak community; it might be faster now), and most people likely don't use terribly strong passwords; the FBI might also have "leads" on what the password is, but not good enough ones that they feel confident dealing with ten attempts. This is a backdoor to the lock: you can quibble with me over the definition of "unfettered" (I do not consider "it will take some time, but I absolutely have a 100% chance of getting access without fail" terribly "fettered", but it definitely is more than the people who are frustrated with this situation seem to want the FBI to have).

> FBI demands from Apple to change their product (iOS) to make the encryption cracking attempts by FBI easier.

... and we should be thankful the FBI didn't simply demand the 4096-bit key Apple uses to sign firmwares, because that's all they actually need--nothing more than 512 bytes of data--in order to accomplish the thing everyone is upset about here.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsacqq10y ago0 comments

> from the perspective of Apple, as nothing more than a ribbon, as Apple already has "unfettered access to [your] data"

No! Since iOS8 Apple intentionally encrypts the user's data on the phone in a way that even they don't have access to them.

They have access to the hardware, to be able to reconfigure it, but not the encrypted data on the phone. Because the data is encrypted, intentionally so.

And they have access to the iCloud backup data and they gave that data to the FBI. Then FBI actually locked their access to the phone by changing the iCloud password.

0 comments

saurik10y ago

acqqOP10y ago

FBI demands from Apple to change their product (iOS) to make the encryption cracking attempts by FBI easier.

saurik10y ago

> FBI demands from Apple to change their product (iOS) to make the encryption cracking attempts by FBI easier.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse