Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Apple Vs F.B.I.

For my third blog post, I have chosen to write about an article discussing the United States governments ability to hack into the iphone. The iphone in question has been highly publicized after the U.S. government asked and then attempted to sue for the rights of a master key to apple products. The phone in question was owned Syed Fizwan Farook, one of the gunman in the San Bernadino attack last year. In the article, a range of topics including Apple security, F.B.I. hacking, and possible hacking techniques that were used.
Three major points that this article pointed out were the F.B.I.’s breakthrough in hacking the phone, how the government might have gone about doing it and Apple’s security division. The critical part of this article is that the F.B.I. was finally able to bypass the iphone’s security and access the data. While the F.B.I did not release information saying how they did it but it is known that they consulted with a third party in order to do it. This is so important because we now know that the government can bypass some the current security and break into iphones. The article then speculates how the agency might have gone about doing this. The article speculates that the F.B.I. would have used a NAND mirror chip in order to duplicated the memory of the iphone chip. Once it was mirrored, they then could guess a many password as they wanted. If they got locked out they they could simply restart and try again. The third topic discussed that I found important was Apple’s security division. Apple’s security division has seen a lot of turnover recently and some question how quickly they will be able to discover and fix the hole in the system. Since Apple has placed so much importance on the security of their products, many believe that if a solution is not provided relatively quickly it would hurt the brands reputation.
            While reading this article I had a few ideas that I felt were overlooked. First and most importantly I was concerned with the legality of the situation. The government spent months trying to hack and break into Apple’s iphone firewall, and while they did it to break into the one iphone the hack will work across all phones with the same software. The next part I believe was overlooked was Apple products as a whole. Since everything Apple is connected through the cloud, is all Apple data for an account now vulnerable or is it limited solely to the iphone. The third part I think that was overlooked were the long term repercussions for Apple. Does Apple have a new giant issue because the F.B.I was able to hack one phone after months of trying to, or do they merely have to figure out what the F.B.I. did to get in and fix that?


Works Cited
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/technology/apples-new-challenge-learning-how-the-us-cracked-its-iphone.html?ref=technology&_r=0

7 comments:

  1. This was definitely a very high profile news story in the past few months and it raises many questions about national security. Apple was very clear in wanting to keep the phone secure since consumers expect their personal devices to be secure. I think Apple was right in denying the government access to the phone since they are ethically responsible for the security of their products.

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  2. The difficulty the FBI had getting into the phone of the San Bernadino shooter was high profile. When the FBI asked for help and Apple said they could not unlock the phone, it sparked controversy on whether or not Apple was right because this man had killed Americans. But Apple remained firm and didn't help the FBI hack into the phone, and in doing this showed their customers they were safe with apple products. I commend Apple not helping the FBI, but the FBI got into the phone anyway. I think you bring up a good point that this shows Apple phones are hackable, and I believe that because this point has brought up a very important legal issue: should privacy rights on technology be given up when you commit an act of terrorism? If this questions gets posed to Congress, it will be interesting to see how they will react and if privacy rights will change under certain circumstances.

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  3. I found this article to be extremely interesting and relevant to what we are currently discussing in class. Although Apple strives to ensure privacy to its customers, in cases such as the one noted in the article, FBI hacking to iPhone or other devices is necessary in order to ensure national security. Apple has taken multiple steps to provide security and privacy to its customers, however, these efforts can only go so far in completely protecting Apple products from FBI hacking into personal information for security purposes. In this case, Apple did not aid the FBI in hacking into the suspected terrorist's phone, which shows their allegiance to customer privacy, which is somewhat commendable on their part. This case also is a source of warning to Apple product owners, as well as other companies, that their information can never be fully protected and secure. Especially today's day and age, it is extremely important for smartphone users to realize the potential threats they can face from saving and sending personal information on mobile devices and through the internet.

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  5. Hello Jonathan,
    I want to start by saying this is a very appropriate topic to write a blog about. This story caught a lot of media coverage and is especially relevant for college students considering how much we use our phones. Apple has a responsibility as a business to ensure that there customers information is safe, and that a third-part source could not obtain the information. I think the FBI has crossed a line that they should not have been crossed. First, Apple is a private company; therefore, they have the write to with-hold information from the government. I see what the FBI did as an intrusion towards businesses. In particular, Apple did not assist the FBI in the hacking of the phone in-question. This is huge, because it proves the respect that apple has for its customers. But, this recent development further solidifies that your information is not safe from anyone; and if it is, it can-and-will be manipulated so an entity can see it. In conclusion, I would like to say thank you for writing about this article. I found that it was an appropriate topic to discuss and it is especially relevant for college students and young people all-together. It shows consumers that they are technology is vulnerable and that they should be aware of this.

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  6. This article and blog post are fascinating as they directly correlate to the ethics, privacy and information security chapter that we are discussing in class. Although companies strive to keep the information of their customers safe and in there own hands, there is nothing that they can do when it comes to hackers, especially FBI hackers. Although they may try to keep our information protected, someone out there is able to access it. As an Apple customer, this case is scary, however, it also makes me feel security in the company based on the fact that they refused to aid the FBI in hacking into the terrorist’s phone. Even though the individual who was hacked was a terrorist, Apple stood by their company values and company beliefs and did not release any information on their customer.

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  7. This article raises a lot of discussion around the argument of technology and government. In this case the FBI needs the help of a domestic company to possibly help save American lives in finding ISIS fighters in the U.S. However, this argument also poses a threat to domestic security Apple has produced for millions of users with their iPhone. The decryption of the security on iPhones could lead to someone else getting ahold of this decryption and using it for the wrong reasons. Now, majority of the arguments are coming from the average person and media. I believe that the FBI would not want to risk the security of millions of Americans from this decryption. Apple's IT over the past decade has done a tremendous job keeping millions of users safe and secure from being hacked. Apple is standing by their ethical values, the only problem is it is also standing in the way of the governments national security values. This is just an example of the never ending argument of government versus technology.

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