Today, a judge ordered Apple to help the FBI decrypt the San Bernadino shooter's iPhone 5C. Specifically:
The problem the FBI is trying to solve is that when guessing passcodes is slow. The user has two options. One option is that every bad guess causes the wait between guesses to get longer and longer, slowing down guessing, forcing an hour between guesses. The other option is to have the phone erase itself after 10 bad guesses. Ether way, it makes guessing the passcode impractical. The FBI is demanding the Apple update the software of the phone to prevent either of these things from happening.
![]()
Lastly, the older iOS 8 defaulted to 4 digit passcodes, and merely a long delay (but not erasure) between attempts. There's a good chance this is how the phone was configured. Which means that an intern with the phone will eventually be able to decrypt it.
FAQ:
Q: Isn't helping the fight against terrorism the right thing to do? These terrorists killed a lot of innocent people!
A: Certainly. But the question isn't whether Apple should help in this particular case, but whether Apple can be compelled to help in all cases, even when the government is abusing it's power. And by an large, the government is abusing the powers it demanded in order to fight "terrorism".
Q: Is it possible for Apple to do this?
A: If the phone were a 5S or later, then the answer is probably "no". Apple claims this, and techies agree. But the phone was a 5C. That model, and older, it may be possible. There are still hurdles, such as getting the phone to trust a firmware update without having the passcode.
Q: Does the law allow the FBI to do this? What law?
A: The "All Writs Act of 1789", 28 U.S.C. § 1651. This is highly controversial, with many claiming that this law is nowhere near enough to compel Apple to write new code.
- disable the auto-erase that happens after 10 bad guesses
- enable submitting passcodes at a high speed electronically rather than forcing a human to type them one-by-one
- likely accomplish this through a fimware update
The text of the court order almost exactly matches that of the "IOS Security Guide". In other words, while it may look fairly technical, actually the entirety of the technical stuff they are asking is described in one short document.
The problem the FBI is trying to solve is that when guessing passcodes is slow. The user has two options. One option is that every bad guess causes the wait between guesses to get longer and longer, slowing down guessing, forcing an hour between guesses. The other option is to have the phone erase itself after 10 bad guesses. Ether way, it makes guessing the passcode impractical. The FBI is demanding the Apple update the software of the phone to prevent either of these things from happening.
The phone is an iPhone 5C, first released in September 2013, so is quite old. This increases the chance that Apple may indeed be able to hack the phone as the court order suggests, depending upon the software version. Unlike the 5S, the 5C doesn't have the hardware enclave, but I seem to remember it has something related.
On newer phones like the iPhone 6, with Apple's "Enclave", such an update of the firmware would be impossible. Updating the firmware to do what the FBI wants would also erase the crypto keys, effectively erasing the device. The wipe/delay feature in guessing passcodes is wholly within the enclave.
On older phones, such as the iPhone 5C, there is no enclave, so plausible the FBI's strategy of updating iOS might work. But the problem exists on how to get the iOS update onto the phone -- which may need a passcode.
The first hurdle is to get the iPhone to trust the computer doing the update, which can only be done with an unlocked phone. That means the FBI won't be able to get the phone to trust their own computers. However, the iPhone has probably been connected to a laptop or desktop owned by the terrorists, so such an update can happen from those computers.
![]()
The second hurdle is that the phone asks for a passcode during an update. I updated my old iPhone 5 to verify this. Right between the update steps, it asked for the passcode. I'm not sure who asked for it. Was it the older iOS version, preventing an update? Or was it the new iOS version, asking to verify the new update. In the first case, it's not something Apple can change, but in the second case, it's something Apple can fix to comply with the FBI's request.
I was using iTunes. Apparently, there are other tools out there (used for repair shops and factories) that are more efficient, and which may be able to bypass a security check.
Depending on the version of the existing iOS version on the phone, there may be other opportunities for the FBI. Back in 2014, there was some controversy about a developer feature that could be used to 'backdoor' the iPhone, assuming it had already been set to trust a computer.
On older phones, such as the iPhone 5C, there is no enclave, so plausible the FBI's strategy of updating iOS might work. But the problem exists on how to get the iOS update onto the phone -- which may need a passcode.
The first hurdle is to get the iPhone to trust the computer doing the update, which can only be done with an unlocked phone. That means the FBI won't be able to get the phone to trust their own computers. However, the iPhone has probably been connected to a laptop or desktop owned by the terrorists, so such an update can happen from those computers.
The second hurdle is that the phone asks for a passcode during an update. I updated my old iPhone 5 to verify this. Right between the update steps, it asked for the passcode. I'm not sure who asked for it. Was it the older iOS version, preventing an update? Or was it the new iOS version, asking to verify the new update. In the first case, it's not something Apple can change, but in the second case, it's something Apple can fix to comply with the FBI's request.
I was using iTunes. Apparently, there are other tools out there (used for repair shops and factories) that are more efficient, and which may be able to bypass a security check.
Depending on the version of the existing iOS version on the phone, there may be other opportunities for the FBI. Back in 2014, there was some controversy about a developer feature that could be used to 'backdoor' the iPhone, assuming it had already been set to trust a computer.
Lastly, the older iOS 8 defaulted to 4 digit passcodes, and merely a long delay (but not erasure) between attempts. There's a good chance this is how the phone was configured. Which means that an intern with the phone will eventually be able to decrypt it.The upshot is this. It's an older phone. If the iOS version is old, and especially if it's been configured to "trust" a laptop/desktop, then there is a good chance Apple or the FBI could decrypt it. If the software is reasonably up-to-date, my understanding of how iPhone's work, it's impossible at the moment for Apple to decrypt the device, especially as suggested by the court order.
In any case, I assume that Apple will challenge the "All Writs Act" that the FBI is using to compel Apple to comply.
FAQ:
Q: Isn't helping the fight against terrorism the right thing to do? These terrorists killed a lot of innocent people!
A: Certainly. But the question isn't whether Apple should help in this particular case, but whether Apple can be compelled to help in all cases, even when the government is abusing it's power. And by an large, the government is abusing the powers it demanded in order to fight "terrorism".
Q: Is it possible for Apple to do this?
A: If the phone were a 5S or later, then the answer is probably "no". Apple claims this, and techies agree. But the phone was a 5C. That model, and older, it may be possible. There are still hurdles, such as getting the phone to trust a firmware update without having the passcode.
Q: Does the law allow the FBI to do this? What law?
A: The "All Writs Act of 1789", 28 U.S.C. § 1651. This is highly controversial, with many claiming that this law is nowhere near enough to compel Apple to write new code.
Q: I heard its a trick to force Apple to create a backdoor.
A: No, that's an invalid assertion. For one thing, the court order explicitly wants Apple to limit the special software for only this phone, so it wouldn't be something the FBI could use on other phones. Nor is that FBI asking for this feature to be placed on any customer owned phone, but only this one phone in their possession.
Q: Doesn't the "enclave" features stop this?
A: Not for the older iPhone 5C.
A: No, that's an invalid assertion. For one thing, the court order explicitly wants Apple to limit the special software for only this phone, so it wouldn't be something the FBI could use on other phones. Nor is that FBI asking for this feature to be placed on any customer owned phone, but only this one phone in their possession.
Q: Doesn't the "enclave" features stop this?
A: Not for the older iPhone 5C.
Specifically, the court suggests that this be done with a firmware update, but with a unique ID specific to this particular phone, so that the FBI can't just then load that firmware on any phone. The otherwise awesome Mike Masnick suggests the court is ordering Apple to "create a backdoor" instead of just "decrypt". I disagree with that logic, it really is just about decrypting this one phone.