FBI can't access Dayton shooter's phone

[Bubbajim]

In context: A week on from the tragic event in Dayton, Ohio, investigators are no closer to establishing the perpetrator’s motive. The FBI are in possession of the killer’s phone, which may hold vital clues, but so far they have been unable to access the device.

In the wake of tragedies like the mass-shootings in El Paso and Dayton last week, everybody wants to know the answer to one question – why? Why would a person commit such atrocious crimes and end so many lives? As politicians and commentators seek to pin blame on social factors like gun laws or video games, the FBI is looking into the individuals who carried out the attacks.

In the case of El Paso, an anti-immigration ‘manifesto’ was posted to 8chan by the alleged killer. But when it comes to Dayton, Ohio, officials are having a harder time identifying a motive. One way the FBI is hoping to get a lead is through searching the perpetrator’s phone – but so far, the FBI hasn’t been able to bypass the phone’s lock.

According to The Hill, FBI Deputy Director, David Bowdich, told House Democrats that the Ohio shooter’s phone requires a passcode. During a conference call, Bowdich admitted that the FBI can’t unlock the device, and speculated that if the killer used a six- to eight-digit combination, cracking the code could take months.

This is not the first time that law enforcement has run into this issue. In the wake of the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, officials instigated a legal challenge to Apple to try and force the company to unlock the phone for them. Apple refused.

In this instance, the phone at the center of the issue is a Samsung device. It remains to be seen whether or not Samsung will step in to aid efforts to investigate this tragic event.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81386-fbi-cant-access-dayton-shooter-phone.html

 

[Lew Zealand]

Obviously lame excuse.

Cellebrite can unlock it but the FBI is afraid to for some reason.

 

[MasterMace]

Obviously lame excuse.

Cellebrite can unlock it but the FBI is afraid to for some reason.

The FBI is playing dumb to try to get the courts and companies to do it for them.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Probably because the actual "guy" died in 2014. There's no phone to crack at all.

 

[EClyde]

Beat the kid til he talks

 

[GregonMaui]

Boycott Samsung for not letting the FBI crack the phone!

Boycott Samsung for letting the FBI crack the phone!

Can't win. Damn the 4th amendment!

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Beat the kid til he talks

Beat a dead kid, huh?

His obituary is from 2014. You gonna dig him up and beat the truth out of a dead guy?

 

[GregonMaui]

Beat a dead kid, huh?

His obituary is from 2014. You gonna dig him up and beat the truth out of a dead guy?

its called sarcasm, a form of humor. Lighten up a bit and laugh at yourself

 

[psycros]

I'm confused...if this guy died in 2014 how did he go on a killing spree?

 

[Evernessince]

The FBI whines more about not being able to do things then actually doing things. Perhaps they aren't hiring the right crytography experts if they can't crack a single device.

 

[J spot]

The FBI whines more about not being able to do things then actually doing things. Perhaps they aren't hiring the right crytography experts if they can't crack a single device.

If you have an encrypted drive, say with a 16 digit password. Do you think not being able to crack it would be due to incompetence?

 

[brucek]

They wait for big, horrible cases like this to try to move the line on their data access powers, knowing that when people are riled up by mass violence they're more likely to approve anything.

Then they'll use their new mass surveillance powers to go after everything from late library books to smoking a joint at college.

All such BS since for a case like Dayton, they probably already have more than enough to get everything they need anyway.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm confused...if this guy died in 2014 how did he go on a killing spree?

It's a silly conspiracy theory. Some people just can't get enough of these things.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/connor-betts-dayton-died-2014/

 

[Uncle Al]

What happened to that Israeli company the FBI was using regularly? They cracked the iPhone pretty easily ... did they raise their rates too high?

 

[Evernessince]

If you have an encrypted drive, say with a 16 digit password. Do you think not being able to crack it would be due to incompetence?

Irrelevant. I'm not getting paid to de-encrypt files nor was that my major in college. My level of knowledge of Ciphers is 101, I know basic cryptography techniques and methods only. I'd expect someone who majored and works in the field to do much much better, especially at the FBI's level.

 

[Nobina]

Why do they need his phone? We already know why he did it, it's the bloody video games.

 

[BigBoomBoom]

Why do they need his phone? We already know why he did it, it's the bloody video games.

They need to know if it's actual Call of Duty or Battlefield that made him do it.

 

[J spot]

Irrelevant. I'm not getting paid to de-encrypt files nor was that my major in college. My level of knowledge of Ciphers is 101, I know basic cryptography techniques and methods only. I'd expect someone who majored and works in the field to do much much better, especially at the FBI's level.

That's the point, you clearly know very little about it yet you're outrage and have expectations on whether something should be cracked or not. As if it's based on magical powers and the FBI should have the top most notch magician and by their pure power of will they should be able to decrypt it. That's not how it works. Unless Apple or Samsung has a backdoor, it could take a super computer trillions, quadrillions, of years to crack a password depending on how long the password is. In this article they said it could take months, and that's only if the password is short enough, add one more character to the password, and then it could take decades. And that's with lots of computing power dedicated to it non stop.

This is basic knowledge for anyone who's into technology.

 

[toooooot]

This means android is secure, it is secure boys!
We got privacy people!
Free virtual drinks for all!

 

[Evernessince]

That's the point, you clearly know very little about it yet you're outrage and have expectations on whether something should be cracked or not. As if it's based on magical powers and the FBI should have the top most notch magician and by their pure power of will they should be able to decrypt it. That's not how it works. Unless Apple or Samsung has a backdoor, it could take a super computer trillions, quadrillions, of years to crack a password depending on how long the password is. In this article they said it could take months, and that's only if the password is short enough, add one more character to the password, and then it could take decades. And that's with lots of computing power dedicated to it non stop.

This is basic knowledge for anyone who's into technology.

Oh god, here comes the couch cryptography expert with no formal training in the subject. The only thing clear here is that you are conceited.

How exactly do you go from a "trillion" years to the actual month timeline in the article? No, you are assuming the person has a password that is up to DoD strength standards when in fact a vast majority of passwords are 8 characters or less and often contain PII. I'd expect a dictionary attack to crack the password promptly within a week.

And mind you my expectations are nothing extraordinary. The FBI has had to hire a firm before to crack Apple passwords. No one is saying the direct approach of password matching is always the best one and clearly the tools do exist to greatly speed up the process. Nothing magic about it.

Perhaps take a chill pill next time before you have another conniption. Perhaps don't start your comments off with insulting others.

 

[dogofwars]

Irrelevant. I'm not getting paid to de-encrypt files nor was that my major in college. My level of knowledge of Ciphers is 101, I know basic cryptography techniques and methods only. I'd expect someone who majored and works in the field to do much much better, especially at the FBI's level.

That's the point, you clearly know very little about it yet you're outrage and have expectations on whether something should be cracked or not. As if it's based on magical powers and the FBI should have the top most notch magician and by their pure power of will they should be able to decrypt it. That's not how it works. Unless Apple or Samsung has a backdoor, it could take a super computer trillions, quadrillions, of years to crack a password depending on how long the password is. In this article they said it could take months, and that's only if the password is short enough, add one more character to the password, and then it could take decades. And that's with lots of computing power dedicated to it non stop.

This is basic knowledge for anyone who's into technology.

They usually don't brute force the encryption itself at least mathematically but other weakness like choice of password and technological bias implemented in them which bring the total combination down drastically.

For instance when they implement an alternative to PIN they used a grid like password and often it was discovered that people choosed to make a Z shape most of the time because it's longer than a straight line and more than that would be too long so it is mostly used.

They usually attach other hardware to phone and tap directly into the circuit board and look for bias in the response to figure out what "combination" is mostly the right answer and to fool the circuit into not whipping the phone for good but even that as it's limit since manufacturer get wiser and adjust accordingly.

 

[PEnnn]

They should ask the NSA, they do it daily.

 

[koblongata]

Let's ban violent movies and TV shows first.

 

[syrious01]

During a conference call, Bowdich admitted that the FBI can’t unlock the device, and speculated that if the killer used a six- to eight-digit combination, cracking the code could take months."

He's dead already, what's the problem with it taking a few months to find out? Other than they want some legislation to help them crack phones.

 

[Teko03]

Probably because the actual "guy" died in 2014. There's no phone to crack at all.

Breaking News: This just in, people actually can have the same name. More to follow.

Seriously, back in 2002-ish the police came to our house looking for a guy who lived in the same city with the same first name, same middle initial and same last name as my brother. It's already been proven the guy that died in 2014 is a different individual with a different middle name & the sister would have been 10 years older than the sister that was killed in the shooting.