As one who is about to upgrade their current iPhone, perhaps I should wait to determine if Apple’s security is really secure or is it porous enough that a Japanese company with a subsidiary in Israel can break the phone’s internal security safeguards and allow the government to crack its encryption scheme with a “brute force” attack?

The court filing …

MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES Since the attacks in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) has continued to pursue all avenues available to discover all relevant evidence related to the attacks. Specifically, since recovering Farook’s iPhone on December 3, 2015, the FBI has continued to research methods to gain access to the data stored on it. The FBI did not cease its efforts after this litigation began. As the FBI continued to conduct its own research, and as a result of the worldwide publicity and attention on this case, others outside the U.S. government have continued to contact the U.S. government offering avenues of possible research. On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. (“Apple”) set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case. Accordingly, to provide time for testing the method, the government hereby requests that the hearing set for March 22, 2016 be vacated. The government proposes filing a status report with the Court by April 5, 2016.

From Israel …   

Israeli firm helping FBI to open encrypted iPhone: report

Israel's Cellebrite, a provider of mobile forensic software, is helping the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's attempt to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California shooters, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Wednesday. Cellebrite, a subsidiary of Japan's Sun Cor, has its revenue split between two businesses: a forensics system used by law enforcement, military and intelligence that retrieves data hidden inside mobile devices and technology for mobile retailers.

If Cellebrite succeeds, then the FBI will no longer need the help of Apple Inc, the Israeli daily said, citing unnamed industry sources. Cellebrite officials declined to comment on the matter.

Source: Israeli firm helping FBI to open encrypted iPhone: report | Reuters

Bottom line …

I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if the iPhone can be cracked. If so, one might ask why the NSA, the most vaunted and storied of the clandestine technical agencies does not have these capabilities? Perhaps it is now time to take another look at the NSA and its funding. Or more importantly, how secure is the system if foreign forensic specialists have already demonstrated the ability to penetrate the outer layers of iPhone security?

-- steve