In an interview with CNBC, Libertarian presidential candidate and security software entrepreneur John McAfee was asked if he was the third party that the FBI said was helping them crack Apple’s encryption.
“No, it’s not me, but I know exactly who it is and what they are doing. And I promise you that Tim Cook and Apple are not going to be happy with the solution that the FBI has come up with, because it is almost as bad as a universal master key," he responded.
McAfee would not reveal what method he thinks the FBI is employing or who was behind it.
“I’m not fond of it,” he said.
He probably doesn't know but like me can make educated guesses. It comes down to that the government has the phone in their physical possession and the state government is the original owner of the phone. They also have near limitless resources to put to it. This means they can get in. They always could. They also had just about every bit of information of value that would be in the phone without getting into it. The whole matter was about testing pushback from the people and nothing more.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have physical security of your device you don't have security when it comes to an institution with the resources of the federal government. They can take it apart chip by chip if they have to.
I'm going to guess that the reason he said Tim cook isn't going to be happy about it is.... the FBI spoofed an IOS update (without the 10 failed attempt destruct feature) and then pushed its install on the phone using a counterfeit Apple digital certificate. From then on it was a routine "brute force" entry whereby they jam it with all possible PIN permutations.
ReplyDeleteThat is my guess based upon McAfee's statement. But either way, I agree with Ed Snowden that the FBI's statement that they couldn't crack the phone is bullshit.
I rather suspect that the FBI backed off because they were afraid they were going to lose in courtand didn't want to set an adverse precedent.