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The change in the encryption method means Apple may not be able to decrypt the data, according to Neuman. “That path into the device is no longer possible,” Neuman said. Previously, forensic investigators could tap into a device’s hardware port and gain access to a phone’s data “independent of needing to try passcodes,” he said.
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Several cellphone models, including Apple’s iPhone 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S6, use advanced encryption algorithms that scramble all the data on the device when a pin code is set.Įncrypted cellphones and text-messaging apps have made it harder for investigators and intelligence services to track suspected plots in real time, or trace locations and connections once they acquire a suspect’s device, Comey said.Īpple changed the way it manages phone encryption in September 2014, a move that makes it more difficult for law enforcement to access encrypted data on cellphones, according to Clifford Neuman, director of USC’s Center for Computer System Security.
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Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter > Comey first revealed the agency’s struggles to access the phone data while speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. Location data on the phone, among other pieces of information, could also help investigators answer questions about the couple’s movements during an 18-minute gap in the FBI’s timeline of their actions following the shooting.įBI Director James B. Marquez has been arrested and charged with providing material support for terrorists and other crimes. It remains unclear why Farook left a bag with several pipe bombs in the conference room where he and his wife opened fire, why the bombs were not detonated, or if the couple were plotting other attacks.Įnrique Marquez Jr., a friend of Farook’s, is accused of buying two rifles used in the shootings. Investigators are hoping the data on the phone will help answer several questions that have persisted since the shooting. 19 would be accessible only through the device, according to the motion.įarook also used the phone to talk with Malik after that date, court records show. Any communications or data linked to the shooting after Oct. 19, 2015, according to the government’s motion, and the FBI believes that Farook may have disabled that function in order to hide evidence. The phone stopped sending backup information to the iCloud server on Oct. The motion said that Apple routinely complies with law enforcement when presented with a search warrant or judicial order. In its motion, the FBI said Apple should be able to turn off the device’s auto-erase functions, allowing the government to submit “test passcodes” to the phone without the risk of destroying the data it seeks. The health department gave the FBI consent to search the phone, according to the motion, but authorities have been unable to bypass the phone’s passcode lock for fear its operating system would destroy all data on the phone after 10 failed attempts. It is the tech giant’s policy to require law enforcement to obtain search warrants or subpoenas before aiding in investigations.īut the company sees the order as an “ overreach by the U.S. The device, an iPhone5, was given to Syed Rizwan Farook by the San Bernardino County Health Department and was used in his job as an inspector, according to the motion. “Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily.” Eileen Decker wrote in a 40-page motion to the judge. “The government has been unable to complete the search because it cannot access the iPhone’s encrypted content,” U.S.