Apple is reportedly working to
improve the encryption system used on the iPhone up to the point where
nobody would be able to break into the device and extract user
information.
The report comes via the New York Times,
who writes that, although news of such a project emerged only a couple
of weeks after the company was ordered to help the FBI hack an iPhone,
work on upgraded encryption for its devices had started even before the
San Bernardino attacks.
Little is known about how Apple plans to improve
security of the iPhone, but it’s believed that the company intends to
close the loophole that the government is trying to force it to exploit
in order to access content on the device used by one of the San
Bernardino terrorists.
A California judge ordered Apple to develop custom
software that would provide unlimited passcode entry attempts for the
FBI and thus allow the feds to brute-force hack the phone. Apple,
however, has opposed the ruling, claiming that developing a backdoor
could put all users at risk and set a dangerous precedent that could
allow the government to break into other devices in the future.
No other San Bernardino cases
While iPhones are fully encrypted, each device comes
with a built-in troubleshooting mode that allows Apple to update the
operating system should the company need to repair a broken phone and
repair software issues that prevent it from booting. This is how the
government wants to force Apple to break into the San Bernardino iPhone,
and it’s also believed that this is actually the loophole that the
company is planning to block with its new encryption system.
With this supposedly being the only way to break
into the iPhone, Apple could thus make the iPhone impossible to hack, so
future FBI demands in this regard would be pretty much run into a stone
wall, so the company wouldn’t have to compromise the security of the
device.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned
that, once such a backdoor is created, it could fall into the hands of
bad guys too, so instead of helping the FBI access terrorist data,
criminals could actually use the exploit against the United States to
monitor unencrypted communications and steal data.
Apple is reportedly working to
improve the encryption system used on the iPhone up to the point where
nobody would be able to break into the device and extract user
information.
The report comes via the New York Times,
who writes that, although news of such a project emerged only a couple
of weeks after the company was ordered to help the FBI hack an iPhone,
work on upgraded encryption for its devices had started even before the
San Bernardino attacks.
Little is known about how Apple plans to improve
security of the iPhone, but it’s believed that the company intends to
close the loophole that the government is trying to force it to exploit
in order to access content on the device used by one of the San
Bernardino terrorists.
A California judge ordered Apple to develop custom
software that would provide unlimited passcode entry attempts for the
FBI and thus allow the feds to brute-force hack the phone. Apple,
however, has opposed the ruling, claiming that developing a backdoor
could put all users at risk and set a dangerous precedent that could
allow the government to break into other devices in the future.
No other San Bernardino cases
While iPhones are fully encrypted, each device comes
with a built-in troubleshooting mode that allows Apple to update the
operating system should the company need to repair a broken phone and
repair software issues that prevent it from booting. This is how the
government wants to force Apple to break into the San Bernardino iPhone,
and it’s also believed that this is actually the loophole that the
company is planning to block with its new encryption system.
With this supposedly being the only way to break
into the iPhone, Apple could thus make the iPhone impossible to hack, so
future FBI demands in this regard would be pretty much run into a stone
wall, so the company wouldn’t have to compromise the security of the
device.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned
that, once such a backdoor is created, it could fall into the hands of
bad guys too, so instead of helping the FBI access terrorist data,
criminals could actually use the exploit against the United States to
monitor unencrypted communications and steal data.
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