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| Law enforcement agencies are able to crack iPhone encryption |
According to the New York Times, a report from Upturn, a Washington-based non-profit organization, showed that law enforcement agencies in the United States have tools to access data stored in encrypted iPhones.
According to the report, at least 2,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states currently have tools that allow them to access locked and encrypted smartphones for further criminal investigations.
The long-running debate over cryptography revolves around the notion that law enforcement officers cannot obtain evidence from devices and services due to the use of encryption, and thus require classified requests.
There doesn't seem to be a need to invite you to the back door.
This information was obtained through years of analysis of public documents relating to these institutions and their investigations.
At least 49 of the 50 largest police stations in the United States are believed to have access devices, as well as small towns and counties.
In toolless areas, they usually hand over their smartphones to the federal or state forensic laboratories that usually own them.
These tools can take the form of GrayShift's GrayKey, a small device that can be used to unlock a locked iPhone.
Federal law enforcement and local police have purchased the device for several years and paid tens of thousands of dollars for the device.
In cases where important tools do not work, you can send the device to services like Cellebrite to activate them.
The bill shows Cellebrite cost about $ 2,000 to unlock each device, and the company sold advanced tools to the Dallas Police Department for $ 150,000.
The tool's ease of use also encourages law enforcement agencies to use the device, and it is believed that thousands of smartphones have been searched over the past five years.
Although many organizations own and actively use these tools, some people still think strong coding is a problem.
The time and money required to unlock devices is an issue for law enforcement.
Stanford University researcher Rhianna Pfeverkorn notes that the presence of these tools act as a safety valve for crypto discussions, but change law enforcement requirements.
She added, "We cannot access these devices instead: We cannot access these devices quickly."
In October, the US Department of Justice and other "Five Eyes" countries issued a statement calling for the creation of back doors and insisting that back doors be created to effectively deal with illegal content without reducing security.