Apple has been ordered to unlock the iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Beardino, Califoia, massacre in December.
CNET
Apple has been ordered to help US federal investigators hack encrypted data on the iPhone used by one of the shooters involved in the San Beardino massacre, the latest in the battle between tech companies and law enforcement over the use of encryption.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Cupertino, Califoia-based company must supply the FBI with technical assistance within five days to bypass the encryption software on the iPhone used by Syed Farook.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people on December 2 in San Beardino, Califoia, before dying in a gun battle with police.
The order was issued after federal prosecutors said Apple had declined to assist law enforcement in accessing data on the county-owned work phone. Prosecutors said the data may yield information about who may have helped the pair carry out the massacre.
"Despite ... a warrant authorizing the search," prosecutors wrote in a 40-page filing detailed by NBC News, "the govement has been unable to complete the search because it cannot access the iPhone's encrypted content. Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the govement in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily."
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tuesday's ruling comes amid a mounting war of words between tech companies and policy makers, who contend that terrorist groups are benefiting from encryption, the technology that jumbles communications and files so that only the intended recipient can read them. Tech companies have become increasingly diligent about including encryption in products and services in the wake of revelations about US govement surveillance programs from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Apple's iMessage text message program uses encryption, as does Facebook's WhatsApp. Google, Yahoo and a bunch of other tech companies have begun scrambling information sent between their servers. These security features, which aim to keep prying eyes from seeing what's going on inside, are often now tued on by default and easy to use.
Indeed, the encryption used in Apple's chat service has stymied attempts by federal law enforcement agents to eavesdrop on suspects' conversations, an inteal govement document revealed in 2013. Discussing a February 2013 criminal investigation, an inteal Drug Enforcement Administration document seen by CNET waed that because of the use of encryption, "it is impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices" even with a court order approved by a federal judge.
The iPhone prosecutors are seeking the data from an iPhone that belongs to Farook's employer, the San Beardino County Department of Public Health. The county has consented to the iPhone's contents being searched. But the phone is password-protected, and investigators worry that the handset's encryption will erase its data after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock the device.
"Since the terrorist attack in San Beardino on December 2, 2015, that took the lives of 14 innocent Americans and shattered the lives of numerous families, my office and our law enforcement partners have worked tirelessly to exhaust every investigative lead in the case," US Attoey Eileen M. Decker said in a statement. "We have made a solemn commitment to the victims and their families that we will leave no stone untued as we gather as much information and evidence as possible. These victims and families deserve nothing less."
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