March 2016 – DoGoodSoft's Official Blog

How the FBI Cracked the iPhone Encryption and Averted a Legal Showdown With Apple

March 30, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

An urgent meeting inside FBI headquarters little more than a week ago is what convinced federal law enforcement officials that they may be able to abandon a brewing legal fight with tech giant Apple, sources told ABC News today. In the days after the December 2015 massacre in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 people and wounded 22 others, the iPhone left behind by one of the shooters, Syed Farook, was secretly flown to the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia,…

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FBI Hacks iPhone, Ending Apple Encryption Challenge

March 29, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

The Department of Justice said in a federal court filing Monday that it had bypassed encryption on the iPhone 5c used by a terrorist in a mass shooting last year in California and requested the court vacate its order compelling Apple to assist it in accessing the device. The filing effectively ends a contentious legal battle between the federal government and Apple over the phone used by Syed Rizwan Farook. Farook was fatally shot by authorities along with his wife,…

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Why few hackers are lining up to help FBI crack iPhone encryption

March 24, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

When the FBI said it couldn’t unlock the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooting investigation without the help of Apple, the hackers at DriveSavers Data Recovery took it as a challenge. Almost 200 man hours and one destroyed iPhone later, the Bay Area company has yet to prove the FBI wrong. But an Israeli digital forensics firm reportedly has, and the FBI is testing the method. Finding a solution to such a high-profile problem would be a…

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Apple-FBI fight may be first salvo in encryption war

March 18, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

The Apple-FBI fight may just be the opening salvo in a broader war over encryption, as technology companies continue to lock up their users’ messages, photos and other data to shield them from thieves and spies — and, incidentally, criminal investigators. WhatsApp, the globally popular messaging system owned by Facebook, has already run into trouble on this front in Brazil. WhatsApp encrypts all user messages in “end to end” fashion, meaning no one but the sender and recipient can read…

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Debate over tech tools’encryption

March 17, 2016 Miranda Comments 1 comment

Before the San Bernardino terror attack, Syed Rizawan Farook’s iPhone was just one fancy Apple device among hundreds of millions worldwide. But since the California government worker and his wife shot and killed 14 people on December 2, apparently inspired by extremist group IS, his iPhone 5c has become a key witness – and the government wants Apple to make it talk. The iPhone, WhatsApp, even social media – government authorities say some of tech fans’ favourite playthings are also…

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Google closing in on target of full encryption

March 16, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

Google is disclosing how much of the traffic to its search engine and other services is being protected from hackers as part of its push to encrypt all online activity. Encryption shields 77 percent of the requests sent from around the world to Google’s data centers, up from 52 percent at the end of 2013, according to company statistics released Tuesday. The numbers cover all Google services except its YouTube video site, which has more than 1 billion users. Google…

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Take a stand against the Obama/FBI anti-encryption charm offensive

March 15, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

It has been frustrating to watch as the horrific San Bernardino terrorist killing spree has been used as a cover by the FBI to achieve the anti-encryption goals they’ve been working towards for years. Much of that frustration stems from the fact that the American media has so poorly reported the facts in this case. The real issue in play is that the FBI wants backdoor access to any and all forms of encryption and is willing to demonize Apple…

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Obama: ‘Absolutist view’ on encryption not answer

March 12, 2016 Miranda Comments 1 comment

President Barack Obama said Friday that the encryption versus national security debate, currently being played out in Apple’s legal fight against the federal government, won’t be settled by taking an “absolutist view.” Addressing an audience of tech enthusiasts meeting in the Texas capital, Obama said both values are important. He restated his commitment to strong encryption, but also asked how will government catch child pornographers or disrupt terrorist plots if smartphones and other electronic devices are made ways that keep…

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Government says Apple arguments in encryption case a “diversion”, presents point-by-point rebuttal

March 11, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

As the Apple vs. FBI encryption debate heats up in California, the U.S. government on Thursday fired back at Apple’s oppositions to a court order compelling its assistance in an FBI investigation, and in a new motion discounted a number of arguments related to supposed backdoors, “master keys,” the All Writs Act and more. In its letter in support of a federal magistrate judge’s original order to compel Apple’s help in unlocking an iPhone used by San Bernardino terror suspect…

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New FBI strategy wins back lost ground in encryption fight

March 10, 2016 Miranda Comments 0 Comment

By July 2015, FBI Director Jim Comey knew he was losing the battle against sophisticated technologies that allowed criminals to communicate without fear of government surveillance. In back-to-back congressional hearings that month, Comey struggled to make the case that terrorists and crooks were routinely using such encryption systems to evade the authorities. He conceded that he had no real answer to the problem and agreed that all suggested remedies had major drawbacks. Pressed for specifics, he couldn’t even say how…

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