Apple Challenges US Government Order to Bypass Phone Security

Apple says the software requested by FBI will risk the data security of all apple customers.

Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Photo: Reuters)

Apple has decided to challenge a US government order to help FBI investigators hack into an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the December attack in San Bernardino, California.

The order required Apple to supply a highly specialised software that the FBI could load onto an iPhone to bypass a self-destruct feature, which erases the phone’s data after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock it.

Shortly after, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a statement challenging the public order and calling for a public discussion to update its customers around the world, about what was at stake.​

The statement says that Apple has used encryption to protect personal data that even an Apple staff member cannot access. If an iPhone is locked, it can be accessed only with the user’s passcode. Ten incorrect attempts will automatically erase all data on the phone.​

The couple took pains to physically destroy two personally owned cell phones, crushing them beyond the FBI’s ability to recover information from them. (Photo: AP)

The statement mentions in detail the FBI requirement and how this one software, if created, can be misused by anyone.

Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software – which does not exist today – would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s possession.

<b>Tim Cook, Apple CEO</b>

Although FBI has requested to create only a one-time use software, Apple explains that once a “key” to an encrypted system is created, the source-code of the encryption is revealed, and thus the encryption can be defeated by anyone with the knowledge thereafter.​

With ‘the deepest respect for the American democracy’, Tim Cook has requested​ the government to take a step back and consider the wider implications.

While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

<b>Tim Cook, Apple CEO</b>