The FBI cracked into a terrorist's iPhone (Faris Algosaibi / Flickr)
Today, everyone's talking about one single iPhone.
While there are billions of phones in the world today, how can one phone be so important? Well, it can be.
This one iPhone was used by a terrorist and is a part of an investigation--the issue of cracking into it has become a HUGE symbol in privacy, security, and other questions.
The iPhone
This extremely coveted iPhone used to be one of the terrorists involved in the San Bernardino attack last December.
The #ApplevsFBI case
The FBI asked Apple for their help to unlock the iPhone for their investigation.
The dilemma: The FBI could have just guessed passwords, but if they guessed wrong just 10 times, all the data would have been lost.
But Apple said no, because giving the US government a master key or backdoor into an iPhone would allow them to do it for any other Apple phone. (The FBI has more than 10 phones they'd like to crack into.)
The FBI iPhone case legality
Apple said the FBI's request wasn't legal, as it would violate the Constitutional privacy rights of their customers. They said it also violates Americans' Constitutional rights to free speech and due process.
If encryption is privacy, Apple are really the only ones in the mobile space who believe in privacy.
— Jonathan Ździarski (@JZdziarski) March 29, 2016
But, the phone wasn't technically the terrorist's phone. It was owned by the county's health department, where he worked as an inspector. And the county office said sure, let the phone be searched--and supported the FBI's asking Apple for their help.
But -- how did they do it?
Apple wouldn't budge. So the FBI handled it.
The FBI isn't saying how they got into the phone. So far, they've only said that an outside company helped them crack into it.
What does this mean for privacy, trust, and security?
It doesn't look good for a couple reasons:
The government *may* be able to crack into any phone now.
What kind of crack was this? There are many, many theories of how.
However, the US government claim this unlock only works for this one single phone.
It doesn't make the government look good.
Did the FBI need Apple's help after all? What outside source helped them? There's a lot of questions.
Israeli cybersecurity firm, Cellebrite, was linked to the FBI's attempts at unlocking the iPhone https://t.co/6oOGTGgofd #AppleVsFBI
— Shreeya Sinha (@ShreeyaSinha) March 28, 2016
FBI: Hahaha, we didn't need Apple's help after all.
Everybody else: *Shudder*
— Dave (@D_v_E) March 28, 2016
It isn't good for Apple iPhone security.
So, what's up with the security of iPhones? Right now, there's a serious flaw and the FBI found it.
Apple will now want to know about that security vulnerability and to fix it for all iPhone users. The thing is, the FBI probably won't want to tell Apple.
A little scary, with a lot of questions up in the air.
This article was written by Patrick deHahn and originally appeared on Kicker. Kicker explains the most important, compelling things going on in the world and empowers you to get in the know, make up your own mind, and take action. For more, check out the Kicker site, like their Facebook page, or subscribe to their email newsletter.
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