The FBI's iPhone unlocking tool doesn't work on newer iPhones

[Scorpus]

The FBI has confirmed that the method they used to unlock the 'San Bernardino iPhone 5c' does not work with newer iPhones, including the iPhone 5s and Apple's latest generation of products.

James Comey, director of the FBI, told CNN that the third-party tool they used to access data on the iPhone 5c in question only works on a "narrow slice of phones". However, and unsurprisingly, Comey did not go into any specific details on how the tool works, or exactly what devices it can be used on.

It is believed by some, such as Edward Snowden, that the FBI was able to break into the iPhone 5c as it does not feature Apple's Secure Enclave. Without this security feature, auto-erase functionality can allegedly be bypassed by copying what's stored in the flash memory, brute forcing some passcode attempts, and then copying the data back to the iPhone before the attempt limit is reached to reset the counter.

This method doesn't work on newer handsets with the Secure Enclave as the login attempt counter is stored within the Enclave, which cannot simply be overwritten through a simple hack.

The FBI is pretty keen on not telling Apple exactly how the hack was performed, as Apple would go ahead and fix the issue, preventing the FBI from using similar hacks in the future. Luckily for Apple, though, it appears as if the company's newer devices are safe from hacks and other intrusions.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/64386-fbi-iphone-unlocking-tool-doesnt-work-newer-iphones.html

 

[teddy]

Just wait a few days. no matter how secure anything is, it will be cracked fast.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

And just when the FBI were just about to release it's latest marketing slogan to the public. "If It Needs Cracking, Look No Further Than Us To Be Packing". Whadda setback.

 

[Evernessince]

It's kind of funny how childish the FBI is, I mean they are essentially black hat hackers. They don't alert companies to the vulnerabilities in their software, they go out of their way to create backdoors in software and encryption, and demand access to anything and everything under the sun under the banner of justice.

I'd personally trust a random script kiddie with my data before I would the FBI. Chances are that need is entirely foregone thanks to PRISM and god knows what else has happened since Snowden left.

Orwell would wet himself if he could see the level that big brother has ascended to.