Apple changes encryption, makes it impossible to comply with Police Subpoenas.

[Savannahmann]

Apple has announced that they have changed the iOS to 8, and part of that change is stronger encryption on the iPhone and iPad tablets. These changes make it impossible to give Police access to the contents of the phones even with a warrant.

Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.

The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers.

This is but the first of many companies doing the painfully obvious. Privacy is becoming an issue that is profitable, even if it is unpopular with the authoritarian set. Now, Apple will still have the ability to unlock the iCloud files for Police, but theoretically if you have two different passwords in use, one for the phone, one for the cloud, then the cops would not be able to access the data on the phone itself, which means you would have choices about what was uploaded to the cloud. Now, theoretically if presented with a search warrant, you could be held in contempt of court for failing to open your phone for the police, but that's a battle your lawyer can have with the DA before the Judge where the Probable Cause is questioned. At least you would get a hearing on the issue.

This is the beginning of the pushback, the push for individual privacy. For that we have several people to thank. One of them is the most hated man in the world, a man who even now is looking at relocating to Switzerland after the Swiss said that he would not be eligible for extradition if he was in the country. That's right, Edward Snowden.

[IDemo]

1. Again, for the GD crowd

I'd seriously like to know whether this "feature" has actually been removed in the latest iOS. I strongly doubt it.

HIDDEN packet sniffer spy tech in MILLIONS of iPhones, iPads – expert



By Iain Thomson, 21 Jul 2014 - An analysis of Apple's iOS operating system by a security expert has revealed various tools in the software that could be used for surveillance if one were so inclined.

Jonathan Zdziarski concluded that the vast majority of iThing owners are unaware of lax mechanisms protecting their data.

Data forensics expert and author Zdziarski wrote an academic paper on his findings in March, and gave a related talk [PDF mirror] at the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE X) conference in New York on Friday.

<>

This data includes a copy of the user's address book, stored photos, the voicemail database and audio files, any accounts configured on the device such as iCloud, Facebook or Twitter, a cache of screenshots, keystrokes and the device's clipboard, GPS data, and – on iOS 7 – metadata disk sparseimage of the iOS file system.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/21/ios_firmware_contains_packet_sniffer_and_host_of_secret_spying_tools/

[Savannahmann]

3. I'm guessing, and this is an educated guess, that it does close that hole.

I say guessing because I don't know. But an assumption here, and Yes I know the meaning of that word, would be that Apple is trying to take over the privacy hilltop. Others will follow, and that image of privacy minded company would be destroyed if the new iOS did not close those loopholes, now and in the future any that are discovered.

It is a question of image, and Apple like many others has suffered because of the NSA/FBI/CIA/GCHQ/Anyone and everyone with a credential spying scandal. So they are now putting software out that they say will not allow them to access the information. If that turns out to be untrue, the sales of the iPhone will suffer for a very long time. They would lose market share, and they would lose a huge segment of the population that they've worked hard to get.

I don't know, but I'm guessing the answer is yes. We'll see soon enough won't we?

[IDemo]

4. Apple offered a dubious reply to this report -

that the backdoors are for "diagnostic" purposes only. Even though - "The problem with this is that these services dish out data (and bypass backup encryption) regardless of whether or not 'Send Diagnostic Data to Apple' is turned on or off, and whether or not the device is managed by an enterprise policy of any kind," Zdziarski responded on his blog.

And a media which has provided nothing but breathless excitement over the latest iGadgets has been completely silent about what should have been a blockbuster story. I still tend to doubt that Apple excised the backdoors that someone high in the chain of command felt were needed, simply to market themselves as Your Privacy Guardian.

[LiberalArkie]

5. There are a lot of things that can not at the present time be protected

SMS because it goes to the telco in the clear
POP and SMTP email - Nature of the beast.
A lot of the apps send info in the clear

iMessage & FaceTime - heavily encrypted (pissed off the FBI since day one)
I think most if not all Apple apps are encrypted. Starting with the 5S and IOS8 your long passcode and finger print are the keys and the only keys.

Where some people get in trouble is not enabling long password and wipe the phone after 10 attempts. What a user should do also is encrypt your backup.

I never backup to "The Cloud" as this allows a man-in-the-middle to grab the data. I backup to my computers at home and encrypt the backup. Apple maybe able to protect your data on your phone and on their servers and as it is leaving the phone to the servers. But they can not do anything about that encrypted data while in transit.

[L0oniX]

2. So I guess those Americans going over to help ISIS didn't own Apple equipment?

Stupid fucking NSA can't catch a fucking mouse. Then NSA is nothing but a government porn swap org.

[alfredo]

6. We can't capture them without putting our people at risk. I don't think you realize how much

data is passed each day, and how hard it is to find that needle in the billions of haystacks.

I was involved in data collection back in the days of morse and TT. You had to sort through a mountain of crap and still not find anything of value. I can imagine how tough it is to find anything of value now.

[L0oniX]

7. If the NSA can't be reasonably effective then I got to ask who is benefiting.

[alfredo]

8. We'll never know because those involved can't and won't talk.

The individual agent only know a small piece of what is going on. The big picture is way above his pay grade.