Apple, assuntos gerais

[Enzo]

Apple changed the world seven times




Noticia:
http://www.portugal-tech.pt/showthre...574#post125574



Goste-se ou não da Apple, no meu caso não sou fã nem comprador de produtos da Apple, mas é inegável que eles mudaram o mundo a nível de tecnologia, criaram tendencias e mudaram a forma de ver as coisas e todos os outros de uma forma ou de outra acabaram por seguir, imitar, ou copiar aquilo que a Apple fez.

E agora sem Steve?:/

[Jorge-Vieira]

FBI trick for breaking into iPhone likely to leak, limiting its use

A new Apple iPhone 5C is on display at a Verizon store in Orem, Utah, in this file photo taken September 19, 2013.
Reuters/George Frey/Files




The FBI's method for breaking into a locked iPhone 5c is unlikely to stay secret for long, according to senior Apple Inc engineers and outside experts.
Once it is exposed, Apple should be able to plug the encryption hole, comforting iPhone users worried that losing physical possession of their devices will leave them vulnerable to hackers.
When Apple does fix the flaw, it is expected to announce it to customers and thereby extend the rare public battle over security holes, a debate that typically rages out of public view.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation last week dropped its courtroom quest to force Apple to hack into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, saying an unidentified party provided a method for getting around the deceased killer's unknown passcode.
If the government pursues a similar case seeking Apple’s help in New York, the court could make the FBI disclose its new trick.
But even if the government walks away from that battle, the growing number of state and local authorities seeking the FBI’s help with locked phones in criminal probes increases the likelihood that the FBI will have to provide it. When that happens, defense attorneys will cross-examine the experts involved.
Although each lawyer would mainly be interested in whether evidence-tampering may have occurred, the process would likely reveal enough about the method for Apple to block it in future versions of its phones, an Apple employee said.
"The FBI would need to resign itself to the fact that such an exploit would only be viable for a few months, if released to other departments," said Jonathan Zdziarski, an independent forensics expert who has helped police get into many devices. "It would be a temporary Vegas jackpot that would quickly get squandered on the case backlog."
In a memo to police obtained by Reuters on Friday, the FBI said it would share the tool "consistent with our legal and policy constraints."
Even if the FBI hoards the information - despite a White House policy that tilts toward disclosure to manufacturers - if it is not revealed to Apple, there are other ways the method could come to light or be rendered ineffective over time, according to Zdziarski and senior Apple engineers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The FBI may use the same method on phones in cases in which the suspects are still alive, presenting the same opportunity for defense lawyers to pry.
In addition, the contractor who sold the FBI the technique might sell it to another agency or country. The more widely it circulates, the more likely it will be leaked.
“Flaws of this nature have a pretty short life cycle,” one senior Apple engineer said. “Most of these things do come to light.”
The temporary nature of flaws is borne out in the pricing of tools for exploiting security holes in the government-dominated market for “zero-days,” called that because the companies whose products are targets have had zero days’ warning of the flaw.
Many of the attack programs that are sold to defense and intelligence contractors and then to government buyers are purchased over six months, with payments spaced apart in case the flaw is discovered or the hole is patched incidentally with an update from the manufacturer, market participants told Reuters.
Although Apple is concerned about consumer perception, employees said the company had made no major recent changes in policy. Instead, its engineers take pride in the fact that a program for breaking into an iPhone via the web was recently purchased by a defense contractor for $1 million, and that even that program is likely to be short-lived.
They said most iPhone users have more to fear from criminals than from countries, and few crooks can afford anything like what it costs to break into a fully up-to-date iPhone.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Noticia:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ap...-idUSKCN0WZ0U2

[Jorge-Vieira]

FBI says it will help local and state law enforcement break into encrypted devices

In a letter to state and local law enforcement partners, the FBI says it will help the authorities break into locked mobile devices when it is allowed by law and policy.
In the two-paragraph letter, which was obtained by Reuters and Buzzfeed news, the government agency said it understands the challenges local authorities face when it comes to the monitoring and investigation of suspects who use encrypted mobile devices.
"As has been our longstanding policy, the FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners," the FBI said. "Please know that we will continue to do everything we can to help you consistent with our legal and policy constraints."
The document doesn’t specifically say that the FBI will use the same method to unlock encrypted devices for state and local law enforcement as it did for the San Bernardino iPhone. It does, however, say that it “will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners.”
The DoJ dropped its legal case against Apple after a third-party, widely believed to be Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite, stepped forward to help crack Syed Rizwan Farook’s locked iPhone. Only a few days after saying it no longer required the Cupertino company’s assistance, the FBI agreed to help unlock two Apple devices in a separate Arkansas murder case.
There are several obstacles when it comes to applying the FBI/Cellebrite technique to other Apple devices. It was designed for an iPhone 5c running iOS 9, meaning it wouldn’t work on newer models/operating systems. There's also the chance that Apple could release a patch that fixes the vulnerability to stop the method from being used.
According to the Washington Post, the DoJ and FBI are still debating whether or not the new technique should be used to help crack other iPhones. As the organizations have classified the tool, using it in state and criminal prosecutions that require disclosure of evidence to defendants would pose a problem.
The government’s case against Apple may have gone away, for now, but the privacy versus security battle will continue.
Here’s the full letter:

Since recovering an iPhone from one of the San Bernardino shooters on December 3, 2015, the FBI sought methods to gain access to the data stored on it. As the FBI continued to conduct its own research, and as a result of the worldwide publicity and attention generated by the litigation with Apple, others outside the U.S. government continued to contact the U.S. government offering avenues of possible research. In mid-March, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking the iPhone. That method for unlocking that specific iPhone proved successful.

We know that the absence of lawful, critical investigative tools due to the "Going Dark" problem is a substantial state and local law enforcement challenge that you face daily. As has been our longstanding policy, the FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners. Please know that we will continue to do everything we can to help you consistent with our legal and policy constraints. You have our commitment that we will maintain an open dialogue with you. We are in this together.

Kerry Sleeper
Assistant Director
Office of Partner Engagement
FBI

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64316-fbi-help-local-state-law-enforcement-break-encrypted.html










The FBI Are Already Helping Others Unlock iPhones

In the recent Apple vs the FBI case, the concern was raised about what would happen if the FBI managed to get Apple to unlock the device. People were worried that this one high-profile phone could open the floodgates to requests to unlock the hundreds of iPhones that are in police custody. Initially, we were told that this wouldn’t be the case but as events unfolded this clarification seemed to fade away and we were left with the answer we had expected from the start, an answer that seems to be confirmed by the FBI already helping others unlock iPhones.
In a letter to local authorities, the FBI promise that “we are in this together” and that they would help local authorities unlock iPhones and even iPods where they can legally. In fact, they already have, in a case for Arkansas prosecutors, the FBI have already agreed to unlock both an iPhone and an iPod.
It doesn’t stop there, according to the Washington post, the FBI are looking at if it would be possible to share the tool with local law enforcement. With the firm that helped the FBI create the tool charging only a one-time flat fee, the FBI could offer the tool as long as it retains its classified tool, an issue which has already hampered and raised issues with devices such as the Stingray.
The full letter can be found below courtesy of Buzzfeed:

Since recovering an iPhone from one of the San Bernardino shooters on December 3, 2015, the FBI sought methods to gain access to the data stored on it. As the FBI continued to conduct its own research, and as a result of the worldwide publicity and attention generated by the litigation with Apple, others outside the U.S. government continued to contact the U.S. government offering avenues of possible research. In mid-March, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking the iPhone. That method for unlocking that specific iPhone proved successful.
We know that the absence of lawful, critical investigative tools due to the “Going Dark” problem is a substantial state and local law enforcement challenge that you face daily. As has been our longstanding policy, the FBI will of course consider any tool that might be helpful to our partners. Please know that we will continue to do everything we can to help you consistent with our legal and policy constraints. You have our commitment that we will maintain an open dialogue with you. We are in this together.
Kerry Sleeper
Assistant Director
Office of Partner Engagement
FBI

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/fbi-already-helping-others-unlock-iphones/










FBI’s iPhone Breaking Trick Might Leak Soon

Everyone’s already aware that the FBI has recently closed its court case against Apple because they figured how to break into the locked iPhone with the help of an undisclosed party. However, even though the FBI is trying to keep the cracking method a secret for obvious reasons, chances are that this critical information will leak soon, especially since the agency has offered to help other authorities that are facing similar issues with locked phones in criminal cases. If a court were to force the FBI to disclose this information, defense attorneys would cross-examine all of the experts involved in the process, and the flaw would eventually be exposed. In that case, Apple would immediately move to fix the vulnerability and would likely announce it to its customers.
Moreover, if the FBI would choose to use the method on phones belonging to living criminals, defense attorneys would have a very good excuse to pry and ask for specifics. Then there’s the possibility that the tool’s creators could sell it to another party, in which case the likelihood of it to leak might increase quite a bit. Apple’s experts have stated that “flaws of this nature have a pretty short life cycle,” which means that we’re likely to find out exactly how the FBI cracked that iPhone very soon.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/fbis-iphone-b...ght-leak-soon/









iPhone Unlocked By Fingerprint Because Of A Warrant From The LAPD

While we were so focused on the Apple Vs FBI court battle that was going on, it would seem that the FBI were up to their usual tricks. I refer to the first known case where a user was made to unlock their iPhone by fingerprint because of a warrant.
The court case was overseen by a Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge who agreed that David Charles Baust could not be forced to hand over his iPhones passcode. The judge did say he could be compelled to supply his biometric information to unlock the device, though, a measure that seems very similar in its outcome.
The warrant issued allowed an LAPD agent to visit the premises of Baust and a Paytsar Bkchadzhyan and acquire a fingerprint for the purposes of unlocking the iPhone, a trick that can be mimicked with something as simple as Play-Doh. The warrant contains the line “Law enforcement personnel are authorized to depress the fingerprints and/or thumbprints of the person covered by this warrant onto the Touch ID sensor of the Apple iPhone seized… on 25 February”. The inventory of the property taken in the search doesn’t even help narrow down what they searched for, as they state “PAYTSAR BKCHADZHYAN – FINGERPRINT ON IPHONE DEVICE”, a rather ambiguous term when keeping track of something.
The fingerprint didn’t help as after 48 hours of not unlocking your iPhone with touch ID requires that you enter your passcode anyway, a piece of information that the Judge had already ruled out being forced from the suspect.
This could have repercussions, such as in the case where a person from England is being asked to unlock his device over a case that could see him tried in America, where you could be seen as providing evidence against yourself by providing something like your biometric information or passwords. These are all protected in America under the fifth amendment, the right to not incriminate yourself.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/iphone-unlock...from-the-lapd/

[Jorge-Vieira]

Wozniak Says Silicon Valley Cares Too Much About Money

In an interview with Mashable, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple and all around nice guy, said today's Silicon Valley cares too much about money. In particular, Woz said that people coming out of business school are all about money while engineers are more into coming up with unique designs.

It wasn't in a garage, it was in my Cupertino apartment and my Cupertino office at Hewlett Packard. The garage was kind of a true story because we were humble and we had no money. I think the money that's been made has attracted a different kind of people looking at technology today and saying 'Oh my gosh, I could maybe have a startup and make a bunch of money.' And the ones that come out of business school, money's the priority. For the ones that come out of engineering school, being able to accomplish and design things that didn't exist before is their priority.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/04/...y#.VwNwxHr0Pug

[Jorge-Vieira]

Apple Will Start Phasing Out Plastic Bags This Month

Buying an Apple product is almost as symbolic as the illuminated apple located on the back of your device, with the whole experience of walking out the store reminding you of that new gadget feel before you’ve even opened the box. Part of this experience is the bag you get the new product in, a plastic bag emblazoned with the Apple logo. This part of your experience may be changing with Apple looking to phase out plastic bags later this month.
Revealed by 9to5Mac, a note sent to employees reveals plans for the bags to be replaced by paper bags. The new paper bags will be made with 80 percent recycled materials, a move intended to further Apple’s goal of leaving the world “better than we found it”.
The change will start on the 15th April, with stores looking to use up their plastic bags as soon as they can. Much like when you go shopping customers are now also going to be asked if they want a bag and being given the choice between medium and large sizes, both of these actions look to help reduce the number of bags used and the amount of material given away in the form of bags.
If this wasn’t enough, people who are looking to recycle their iOS devices will get a new “Apple Renew” card, a gift card made out of recycled paper.
With Apple already running their facilities on renewable energy and now using recyclable materials for their stores, leaving the world better than we found it is a step closer to being a reality.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/apple-will-st...ic-bags-month/

[Enzo]

Assim é mais facil para assaltar a malta mesmo já depois de ter saido da loja várias horas depois........

[Jorge-Vieira]

Apple Starts Promoting News Stories With Dedicated Apple News Twitter Account

Apple is embracing social media with the introduction of dedicated twitter accounts for its various services. Followed by Apple Music and the recently launched account for general tips and tricks, the company has now launched a new Apple News Twitter account to promote News stories. Technically, Apple did not launch a new account. The account was introduced last year, but it remained absolute silent until recently.

Apple Will Promote Curated News Stories With A Dedicated Apple News Twitter Account

Moreover, at the time of publication, Apple posted four separate tweets. The first was an introductory tweet that promoted the launch of the feed. Earlier today, the Apple News Twitter account shared tweets that promoted curated stories.

View image on Twitter

Follow
Apple News ✔ ‎@AppleNews

Follow us here for top stories & great reads from your favorite publishers, curated by our U.S. editors.
6:01 PM - 5 Apr 2016







Apple’s editorial team will tweet only hand-picked stories rather than sharing each and every story posted on the Apple News platform. The Apple News account is followed by the company’s team of executives along with other support accounts of Apple. The page’s bio reads, “Follow us here for top stories and great reads from your favorite publishers, curated by our U.S. editors.”
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Since curation is the name of the game, Apple News will tweet posts that it thinks are worthy. Clearly, the Apple News support account on Twitter will highlight important or major news worthy content. The selection of stories will remain personal to the company’s team of editors. Not tweeting every single story makes sense as it would clog users with Apple News promotion content. This would ultimately incarnate the dedicated account as a subsidiary to the Apple News platform. Henceforth, cherry-picked curated content is a viable option.




nova fans’ epic reactions to the ending of the #NationalChampionship game, via @SBNationhttp://apple.co/204vgMa
7:00 PM - 5 Apr 2016



Villanova fan reactions to the game-winner were almost as good as the shot

This is how you properly celebrate a legendary shot.
sbnation.com

• 11 11 Retweets
• 21

The Apple News is available in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The dedicated app comes pre-installed on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and does not require any downloads and installs if you’re residing in the aforesaid regions. The app will be available to those running iOS 9 and above on their devices. Recently, Apple rolled out the iOS 9.3 update that had quite a lot in store for the Apple News including video playback of video stories, landscape orientation on iPhone, changing text size, gesture controls to swipe into new stories and a new Top Stories section in the For You tab.
Stalky Is A Great Tweak To Stalk WhatsApp Contacts




It’s clear how the company is raising its social media presence through the introduction of dedicated support accounts. Lately, Apple launched a general tips and tricks account, which to-date is adhering to high volumes of replies. As for now, what are your thoughts on a dedicated account for Apple News? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Source

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/apple-starts-pro...#ixzz451mp9HZc

[Jorge-Vieira]

Apple Could Be Fined Millions for Strict iPhone Marketing Contract

Did you ever look at a phone provider catalogue and think, where have I seen that advert before? If the phone in question is an iPhone then you may have noticed its prominent placement in the catalogue along with the near identical adverts in every single catalogue. There is a reason for this other than just marketing, and could get Apple fined up to €48.5 million for their strict iPhone marketing terms.
France’s country competition regulators have launched a complaint regarding Apple’s agreements, stating that they are actually illegal. Part of the terms and conditions is that carriers have to order a minimum number of iPhones, cover the cost of repairs for some of the phones and even pay for the ad’s used (including those used for in-store displays).
If this wasn’t enough Apple gains several legal benefits, such as being able to access and use some of the carriers patents and even use their branding as they see fit. The contract also allows Apple to void the contract without any prior notice, something that would scare anyone selling thousands of euros worth of equipment.
With Apple looking at renewable energy for their facilities, they may want to rethink their strategy when it comes to selling their devices as even if this court case is just in France, other countries may follow suit and start looking at stocking alternative products because of the contract they are being forced to sign.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/apple-could-b...ting-contract/

[Jorge-Vieira]

Apple to Use Old or Refurbished IPhones to Break Into Indian Market

The Indian market is one notoriously hard to get into for many firms selling devices at a premium, with many Indian customers being incredibly sensitive to high pricing and the import taxes for the country are high. In response to this difficult market, Apple has a new plan to gain a foothold in India: selling older and refurbished iPhones at cheaper prices.
Compared to their strong advance into the Chinese market, Apple’s progress in India has been slow. Despite increasing the number of distribution channels across a number of Indian cities, the Cupertino-based company only managed to sell 1 million phones in the last quarter, making up just a 3 percent share of the Indian smart phone market.
According to Vishal Tripathi, a research director at Gartner, most of Apple’s recent growth in the Indian market has come from sales of their older devices such as the iPhone 4S and that they may be seeking to target the lower-end of the smart phone market with these dated models, a vastly different approach to in the West. Even the new (and cheaper) iPhone SE, with a price tag of 39,000 rupees for a 16 GB model is unlikely to gain much of a foothold in the market amongst price-conscious customers according to Tripathi.
Currently, Samsung leads the Indian smart phone market, possessing a mighty 27 percent share of the 25 million devices shipped in India in the last quarter, trailed by Indian firm Micromax at 14.1 percent. There is no doubt that Apple wants a piece of this potentially lucrative market, which one of their main smartphone competitors currently controls. Whether this strategy will take hold remains to be seen, but Apple looks to have an uphill battle ahead of them in India as many in the country see them as simply dumping old end-of-life models into the market.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/apple-to-use-...indian-market/

[Jorge-Vieira]

Bernie Sanders wishes Apple would manufacture locally, pay all taxes

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders -- sounding off on corporate America in an interview with the New York Daily News -- had some frank words for Apple this week. While he doesn't believe the company is destructive on the scale of JPMorgan and General Electric, he does take issue with a couple of its key practices.




"No, Apple is not destroying the fabric of America," he explains. "But I do wish they'd be manufacturing some of their devices, here, in the United States rather than in China. And I do wish that they would not be trying to avoid paying their fair share of taxes."





On the bright side, Apple is environmentally friendly and will get even moreso later this month when it makes the switch from plastic bags to recycled paper ones.

Noticia:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/51497/bernie-sanders-wishes-apple-manufacture-locally-pay-taxes/index.html












White House refuses to back anti-encryption legislation

The Obama administration will not be backing legislation that would allow judges to force companies like Apple to weaken the security of their hardware and software in order to facilitate snooping. While President Obama’s personal opinion seems to still be in favour of this sort of bill, clearly there is dissension at the top, as the White House will not be supporting this latest legislative move.
The draft bill being proposed by a cross party pairing of senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, will be introduced in the next week or so and is said by sources “close to the matter,” (as per Reuters) to be vague enough that it’s not clear in what capacity companies would be forced to aid law enforcement. The implication is that it would be in weakening security, but could theoretically be applied in many cases.

Source: Wikimedia
Regardless, the White House won’t be giving much support or input at all, possibly to avoid getting embroiled in the encryption debate in the months leading up to the election later this year. Obama’s support for a candidate could be undermined if he were to come out on either side of this debate, so he is staying out of it for now it seems.
Very few others are though. Tech firms like Whatsapp have enhanced their security in the wake of Apple’s court case with the FBI, which was recently stood down when the federal agency was able to find a third party that could unlock the phone for them. While repeatedly stating that it was just one iPhone as reason for Apple to help it, the FBI has now pledged to aid other agencies in opening up other handsets.
Apple and other tech companies have since called on the White House to consider legislation that finds a middle ground between protecting citizens, without invading their privacy.

Noticia:
http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/white-house-refuses-to-back-anti-encryption-legislation/











The FBI Have Started Briefing People About How They Broke Into The iPhone

After the recent court battle people, the FBI have been rather quiet regarding how they managed to get into an encrypted iPhone. That was until recently when the FBI started briefing senior officials about the methods they used, so it’s likely we won’t hear about it anytime soon.
The FBI have already given a briefing to senator Dianne Feinstein (Vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) about the technique they used to get into the iPhone 5C. Although no real details were given, it would seem that this may be the first of many with senator Richard Burr (the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee) was also offered a briefing, something that he has not accepted yet.
Feinstein and Burr are currently supporting a bill that would see companies required to help the government gain access to encrypted technologies that companies create. This new bill would see Apple and other companies compelled to help bypass or remove encryption on their hardware and software, something which the White House has yet to support.
With the new bill in sight, Feinstein and Burr also believe that companies like Apple shouldn’t be informed about the techniques the FBI used to gain access to their device, with Feinstein saying, “I don’t believe the government has any obligation to Apple. No com*pany or in*di*vidu*al is above the law, and I’m dis*mayed that any*one would re*fuse to help the gov*ern*ment in a ma*jor ter*ror*ism in*vest*ig*a*tion.”.
With encryption now one of many technological advances that governments and law enforcement now struggle with dealing with, it should be interesting to see how governments address this and if they choose to work with or against companies in dealing with the dangers this technology possesses if used in the wrong hands.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/the-fbi-have-...to-the-iphone/

[Jorge-Vieira]

FBI is Unable to Hack into Newer iPhones – James Comey Confirms

After the FBI received help from a private party in unlocking the iPhone 5c used by a San Bernardino shooter, Apple sought an answer to what method had been used to break open the iPhone. Earlier, before the battle between the FBI and Apple came to a standstill, several analysts had suggested that the methods that may be used to unlock iPhone 5c would possibly not work with latest iPhones that have the Secure Enclave.

FBI’s director James Comey has now confirmed to the CNN that the “tool” indeed doesn’t work with the latest iPhones.

The FBI director also said the purchased tool worked only on a “narrow slice of phones” that does not include the newest Apple models, or the 5S.

As speculations ran amok about the private party that has helped the agency in unlocking the iPhone, Comey said he has “a high degree of confidence that they are very good at protecting it, and their motivations align with” the FBI.
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When asked if the agency will share the details of the loophole that was used to break open the iPhone 5c, Comey said that the government was considering whether to tell Apple.

“We tell Apple, then they’re going to fix it, then we’re back where we started from,” he said. “We may end up there, we just haven’t decided yet.”

While the director didn’t share the details of the hack that was used to open the iPhone 5c, it did say that the method only works with a “narrow slice” of iPhones. This lends some confirmation to earlier reports where Edward Snowden and other analysts had said that the FBI could use the mirroring technique to bypass the lockscreen restrictions. In this method, auto-erase function that erases the contents of an iPhone after a few login attempts can be bypassed by resetting the counter and repeatedly copying the contents of the flash memory. This method, however, doesn’t work with the phones that have the Secure Enclave as SE also registers login attempts, making over-writing the flash memory useless.
WordPress Users at Risk of ISIS Hacking Spree - Here's How to Keep Your Sites Secure




A legislation is still in consideration that would force tech companies to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to bypass encryption. Apple, several other tech companies, and privacy activists have vocally fought against the idea of any such legislation that compels the tech leaders into creating loopholes in their own services and products, opening them to misuse by criminal hackers and authoritarian regimes.

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/iphone-5c-hack-only-works-with-a-narrow-slice-of-phones-fbi/#ixzz45AXstxji









The Government 'Purchased A Tool' To Access iPhones

The director of the FBI says the government purchased a tool that works on a "narrow slice" of iPhones. While I'm sure this will come as welcomed news to all the other agencies with iPhones to crack, Apple probably isn't too pleased. Thanks to Lloyd P. for the link.

The head of the FBI said Wednesday that the government had "purchased a tool" enabling investigators to access an iPhone belonging to San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook. The disclosure by James Comey in a speech at Ohio's Kenyon College was a departure from previous official statements, which had been vague in explaining the details of how the government broke into the phone last month.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/04/07/government_purchased_tool_to_access_iphones#.Vwa8B 3r0Pug





FBI Director James Comey Confirms Elite Hacking Tool Agency Bought Only Works On iPhone 5c

Whatever method the Federal Bureau of Investigation used to extract data from the iPhone 5c model that was once in possession of Syed Farook, one of the terrorists involved in the deadly San Bernardino shooting, it appears it will not work for any other generation iPhone. That's if taking FBI director James Comey's comments at face value.

Comey was on hand at Kenyon College in Ohio to give a speech on encryption and surveillance. During the talk and subsequent question and answer session, Comey said the U.S. government bought a tool that made it possible to access the iPhone 5c handset in its possession, but claimed the tool doesn't work on other models.

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages.../iphone_5c.jpg

"This doesn't work on 6s, doesn't work in a 5s, and so we have a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones," Comey said.

How exactly the tool works isn't something that's known outside of the FBI or the third-party that it bought the tool from, and the agency isn't likely to share that information with Apple. All Comey was really willing to say on the matter is that he's confident in the company that it originated from.

"The people that we bought this from, I know a fair amount about them and I have a high degree of confidence that they are very good at protecting it, and their motivations align with ours," Comey said.

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...pen_iphone.jpg

One possible method that's been passed around the web is carefully de-soldering the NAND flash memory chip from the iPhone 5c and then making backup copies. Having those backups in place would allow the FBI to guess at the passcode in rapid fashion until successful.

Had the FBI not obtained the tool and ultimately been able to crack the iPhone 5c, the matter may have played out in court. At the time, Apple was fighting a court order to help the FBI break into the iPhone 5c handset. It's a matter that probably would have ended up before the Supreme Court.

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/fbi-conf...QYqoi2UlCGR.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

White House Won't Support Burr-Feinstein Bill Forcing Companies To Provide Technical Assistance To Encrypted Data

Picking up where the FBI left off against Apple, Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) are getting ready to introduce a bill that would force companies like Apple and Google to provide "technical assistance" to government authorities trying to access encrypted data on locked devices.

"We're still working on finalizing a discussion draft and as a result can’t comment on language in specific versions of the bill," Burr and Feinstein said in a joint statement, according to The Hill. "We’re still in the process of soliciting input from stakeholders and hope to have final language ready soon.”

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...encryption.jpg

Government agencies and technology firms are at odds over encryption and whether or not law enforcement officials should have backdoor access into electronic devices. The argument from the tech sector is that building backdoors into smartphones or being forced to aid officials with breaking into gadgets undermines the security and privacy of these devices, leaving consumers vulnerable to hackers.

On the flip side, those in favor of this type of legislation want to take away the ability of criminals to effectively hide behind encryption. The opposing views took center stage when the FBI sought and obtained a court order forcing Apple to provide technical assistance with breaking into an iPhone 5c model that belonged Syed Farook, one of the terrorists responsible for the San Bernardino shootings.

Apple fought the court order and the FBI withdrew its suit before a decision could be made. Had the matter played out in the court system, there would have been a legal precedent. In lieu of that, some lawmakers are now attempting to accomplish the same thing through a bill.

Citing unnamed source, Reuters says the White House is divided on the issue and opting not to offer public support. That's not a new stance—the White House did the same thing last year when it decided not to try and push through legislation that would require U.S. companies build a backdoor to access encrypted data.

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/white-ho...kFhHQ8OXl33.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

US Department of Justice still wants Apple’s help unlocking iPhones

Over the last few weeks, Apple and the FBI have been butting heads over the unlocking of an iPhone 5c owned by a criminal. So far, Apple has refused to create a back door into its software for the authorities and while the FBI did eventually find another way into its iPhone and offered to assist other agencies with accessing certain iPhones, this technique apparently only works on models that don’t sport Touch ID.
Due to this, the US Department of Justice still requires accessing an iPhone 5S, which was apparently owned by someone involved in drug trafficking. This case is open in New York, with Attorneys submitting a filing showing that they want to move forward with a legal effort to have Apple unlock the iPhone.

The filing (via VentureBeat) specifically says: “The government’s application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple’s assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant”. This also seems to lend some validity to the FBI’s admission that its current iPhone hacking method only works on the iPhone 5c or lower.
At the time of writing, Apple has not responded to the latest legal movement. However, Tim Cook seems pretty set on fighting against court orders forcing Apple to unlock the iPhone so perhaps we will hear more in the next few days.

Noticia:
http://www.kitguru.net/apple/matthew-wilson/us-department-of-justice-still-wants-apples-help-unlocking-iphones/










Security Experts React Negatively To Burr-Feinstein Anti-Encryption Bill

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, CA
Senators Richard Burr from North Carolina and Dianne Feinstein from California, who are the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have been crafting an anti-encryption bill over the past few months. The bill recently came out in "discussion draft" form. Perhaps not unexpectedly, many security experts are reacting negatively to it.
Compelling Companies, Developers To Decrypt

The gist of the bill, called Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016, requires “the provision of data in an intelligible format to a government pursuant to a court order, and for other purposes.” It’s not clear what the bill means by “other purposes” here, but it may refer to non-judicial orders, such as National Security Letters, which can be handed to companies by the FBI alone with no judicial oversight.
The bill refers to “covered entities,” which include device manufacturers, software manufacturers, wire or electronic communication service providers, providers of remote computing services, or “any person who provides a product or method to facilitate a communication or the processing or storage of data.”
The last part sounds as if the bill would affect open source developers, as well as companies such as Spideroak or Lastpass, which only store end-to-end encrypted data.

Contradictory Language

The bill contradicts itself somewhat as well, as it also contains language such as:

“Nothing in this act may be construed to authorize any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity.”

Sen. Richard Burr, NCThis part may have been written to refer to a situation such as the one where the FBI intended to compel Apple to create a “GovtOS,” as the company called it. However, it also means that the government shouldn’t be able to ban end-to-end encrypted systems, even if that means the companies won’t be able to assist in decrypting them. The companies should be free to design whatever systems they wish, including end-to-end encrypted ones.
The problem is this is not as clear-cut as the language that says companies must provide the data in an intelligible form to authorities. In practice, the government would likely be successful most of the time in convincing companies and even judges to order the decryption of devices and communications. That’s because it’s likely that not all companies will posses the legal know-how or the willpower to fight the government over some murky language in the bill.
It’s likely that the language of the bill here would change by the time it reaches President Obama, so these confusions may be “fixed.” The President recently said that he wouldn't publicly endorse the bill, but he also didn’t say whether he would veto it or not. He doesn’t have a long record of vetoing bills, so if it passes the House and Senate with a strong majority (even below the 66% veto-proof majority), he would probably sign it.
To make things even more confusing, the bill doesn’t specify any penalties for companies that refuse to follow the orders, although it’s possible that the companies could still be held in contempt of the Court, so this may differ from one judge to another. What this shows is that the bill wasn’t very well-thought out so far, and if you believe the vast majority of security experts, nothing in the bill was.
Security Experts React

Security experts that have been following the “Crypto War II,” as they tend to call it, have come out strongly against the bill, warning about all the dangers to which it would expose Americans.
Matt Blaze, a cryptography and security professor at the University of Pennsylvania, participated in the first Crypto War when he spoke out against the government’s creation of the Clipper Chip. He recently wrote a paper called “Keys Under Doormats” where he talked about why encryption backdoors and master keys are bad. He now also summarized what the bill would mean for U.S. tech companies in a couple of tweets:
Jonathan Zdziarski, iOS forensics and security expert, wrote an entire blog post about why the bill is, as he called it, “a hodgepodge of technical ineptitude combined with pockets of contradiction.”

“Its broad wording allows the government to hold virtually anyone responsible for what a user might do with encryption.
A good parallel to this would be holding a vehicle manufacturer responsible for a customer that drives into a crowd. Only it’s much worse: The proposed legislation would allow the tire manufacturer, as well as the scientists who invented the tires, to be held liable as well,” Zdziarski wrote.
“Due to the backdooring of encryption that this legislation implies, American electronics will be dangerously unsafe compared to foreign versions of the same product. Diplomats, CEOs, scientists, researchers, politicians, and government employees are just a few of the people whose data will be targeted by foreign governments and hackers both while traveling, but also whenever they’re connected to a network,” he added.

This comment is interesting, because Senator Feinstein was the de facto champion of the “Cyber-Patriot Act” bill called CISA, and the reason she was for it was “cybersecurity.” Yet, the new bill she proposed seems to attack cybersecurity in the U.S. at its core. It’s not clear why the Senator, who was the Senate Intelligence Committee head until 2014, can’t see just how contradictory in their goals the two bills really are.
Matthew Green, cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University, who recently released a paper on why iMessage’s encryption is fundamentally broken, also criticized the bill for its naivety and broadness:
Kevin Bankston, the Director of Open Technology Institute (OTI), also pointed out on Twitter that the bill could also affect even things it may not have intended to affect, such as forward secrecy in TLS encryption.

Forward secrecy, which is essentially a short-term private key rotation for site traffic encryption, began gaining ground after the Snowden revelations, when big companies used it as protection against government hacking. State-sponsored hackers could eventually break into big companies’ servers and get their encryption keys, which is why it was important to rotate the keys as often as possible.

OTI also released an official statement saying that the bill could enable censorship of secure apps on the web and on mobile platforms as well:

"Not only does this bill undermine our security, it is also a massive Internet censorship bill, demanding that online platforms like Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store police their platforms to stop the distribution of secure apps. Of course, just as the bill fails to explain how security engineers are supposed to keep our data secure while also making it completely available to the government on request, it also offers no clue as to how online providers are supposed to comprehensively audit and censor every app on the Internet," the statement said.

The Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016 bill is only a draft so far, but it seems the two co-sponsors, Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, haven’t asked too many cryptographers for their opinion on this. The bill may still change after seeing the criticism of many security experts, but its very existence and the idea of compelled decryption on which it is based probably means that the Senators aren’t going to like what they hear from the experts, either.
While the two Senators are trying to pass this anti-encryption bill in the Senate, California (Feinstein's own state) is trying to pass its own state-level anti-encryption bill, as well. The EFF has issued a call to action against it.

Noticia:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/burr-feinstein-anti-encryption-bill-expert-reactions,31577.html










Apple Won’t Fight FBI To Reveal Method Used To Crack Terrorist’s iPhone 5c

The legal battle between Apple and the FBI has been an ongoing saga that has not only caught the attention of the tech press, but also the general public. Today we’ve learned that Apple won’t fight the FBI to gain insight into the tool used to unlock the iPhone 5c at the center of brouhaha. For starters, the tool only works on a “narrow sliver” of devices according to Comey; it’s limited to just the iPhone 5c.
In addition, while speaking to reporters today on a briefing call, Apple lawyers indicated that any tool the the FBI has access to would have a “short shelf life.” Apple engineers will undoubtedly further increase security going forward in the never-ending quest to not only stay ahead of hackers, but also government agencies that wish to access data by any means necessary. We’ve already seen Apple’s fruits in this quest via the use of encryption at the OS level, Touch ID and the Secure Enclave on the iPhone 5s and newer.
The FBI initially wanted Apple to acquiesce and provide assistance with unlocking an iPhone 5c that belonged to on of the San Bernardino terrorists. The FBI intended to take the company to court to comply, but at the last minute, withdrew its request, explaining that it had discovered a method to unlock the device without Apple’s help.

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages.../iphone_5c.jpg

Since that time, it’s been speculated that the FBI enlisted the help of Cellebrite, a subsidiary of Sun Corporation, to do its dirty work. Cellebrite’s UFED Touch device is capable of extracting data from an iPhone at a cost of several thousand dollars each — a hefty sum to pay just to recover data on a single phone. Given the fact that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies across the country have hundreds of iPhones that they would like to unlock, it’s easy to see why the U.S. Government looked to have a precedent set by having Apple assist in the process — i.e., the easy way out.
Understandably, the FBI seems reluctant to share its unlocking process with Apple as it doesn’t want to hamper any chance that it has break into devices when the need arises. "We tell Apple, then they're going to fix it, then we're back where we started from," said FBI Director James Comey earlier this week. "We may end up there, we just haven't decided yet."
While the fight between the FBI and Apple appears to be dying down in the San Bernardino case, things are starting to heat up again in a Brooklyn drug trafficking case that has already stymied the FBI once. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice made it clear that it will forge ahead in its efforts to force Apple to unlock the iPhone 5s linked to the case.

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/apple-wo...b846pWPRDcl.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

Apple Have Filed a Patent For a Keyboard-less Macbook

Have you ever used multiple screens? you know when you’ve just set up that second screen for the first time and you’re trying to figure out how everything works now. Well, why not have that one a laptop but with a little twist, the second screen, is right where your keyboard used to be? Apple may be trying to do just that with one of their latest patents looking at a keyboard-less Macbook.
The patent was only made public on Thursday but was filed all the way back in September 2015 and seems to show what contains an area described as a “force sensitive input structure for an electronic device”, essentially a large touch screen area where your keyboard used to be.
Apple uses the term “zero-travel” to describe the keyless surface that doesn’t have to move when you press it. The surface, however, does include designs for haptic feedback, just like when you type away on your phone and vibrates back at you.
As a bonus, the system would allow you to configure what you need, need a giant touch pad, you’ve got it. Keyboard and number pad? It’s all yours. While this design is no way unique, with the Acer ICONIA 6120 featuring a touch screen where your keyboard is normally giving you all you need to create and upgrade your inputs as your needs arise.
While it may not become a product for a few years, we are seeing more and more devices that look to do away with dedicated input areas and make use of touch or motion controls. Do you think it’s a good movement away from the keyboard or will there always be a place for keyboards on your laptop?

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/apple-have-fi...d-less-laptop/

[Jorge-Vieira]

FBI Paid Professional Hackers To Crack iPhone

The Washington Post is claiming that the FBI didn't commission an Israeli firm to unlock the infamous iPhone 5c as previously reported. Instead, this article says that the agency supposedly paid professional hackers a "one-time flat fee" to make a tool to crack the iPhone's security system.

The new information was then used to create a piece of hardware that helped the FBI to crack the iPhone’s four-digit personal identification number without triggering a security feature that would have erased all the data, the individuals said. The researchers, who typically keep a low profile, specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government. They were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/04/13/fbi_paid_professional_hackers_to_crack_iphone#.Vw5 vlXr0Pug












FBI reportedly hacked San Bernardino iPhone using zero-day exploit revealed by professional hackers

After several weeks of demands, and on the eve of the trial, the FBI said it no longer required Apple’s help to crack the San Bernardino iPhone last month after the government firm was aided by a “third-party.”
According to the Isreali media, this unnamed entity was Cellebrite, a mobile forensic company based in the Middle Eastern country. But according to a report from the Washington Post, this wasn’t the case.
The site claims that the FBI paid a group of professional hackers for providing information regarding a previously unknown security flaw that helped the government agency break into Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone.
The Post claims that the hacking group, which hasn't been identified, brought the government agency “at least one” zero-day exploit capable of circumventing the iPhone’s brute-force protection features: the automatic wipe function that activates after 10 failed pin entries, and the gradual increase in the delay between pin attempts.
It appears that the vulnerability was specific to the iPhone 5c when running iOS 9, and wouldn’t have worked on later models/operating systems. We don’t know the exact nature of the vulnerability, and the government is still debating whether to reveal it to Apple.
Once the FBI had the new information, it was able to use custom-built hardware to brute-force the four-digit password and acces

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64434-fbi-reportedly-hacked-san-bernardino-iphone-using-zero.html












FBI Paid Grey Hat Hackers, Not Israel-Based Cellebrite, One-Time Fee to Hack iPhone

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced last month that it managed to break into the iPhone belonging to a San Bernardino shooter, with the help of a third party. Up until now, all the signs pointed to an Israel-based mobile forensics firm Cellebrite being the chosen private party who helped the FBI in hacking the iPhone. Now, new report reveals that it was actually freelance hackers who came forward to aid the agency in solving the problem without Apple’s help.

A report by the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, contradicts the popular belief that Cellebrite was the private party helping the agency hacking into the locked iPhone. These sources say that the agency was actually approached by grey-hat freelance hackers who revealed a previously unknown vulnerability in return for a “one-time flat fee.”

The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorist’s phone with the help of professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar with the matter.
[…] The researchers, who typically keep a low profile, specialize in hunting for vulnerabilities in software and then in some cases selling them to the U.S. government. They were paid a one-time flat fee for the solution.

While the FBI is known to have been a long-term client of Cellebrite, the current solution wasn’t brought forward by the Israeli firm. However, it doesn’t mean that the company is incapable of unlocking iPhone, as a recent CNN report claimed that Cellebrite offered to help a man access the contents of his son’s iPhone 6. Remember, iPhone 6 is harder to crack open than the iPhone 5c belonging to the San Bernardino shooter.
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Coming back to who helped the FBI into breaking open the locked iPhone, the report explains that while the white hat hackers report the vulnerabilities to the companies to help them patch them, black hat hackers exploit these to create malware. The group of freelance hackers that approached the FBI, falls into a third, murkier category:
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At least one of the people who helped the FBI in the San Bernardino case falls into a third category, often considered ethically murky: researchers who sell flaws — for instance, to governments or to companies that make surveillance tools.
This last group, dubbed “gray hats,” can be controversial. Critics say they might be helping governments spy on their own citizens. Their tools, however, might also be used to track terrorists or hack an adversary spying on the United States.

There are several companies and hacker groups falling into this group including the infamous Hacking Team and Zerodium. SecurityWeek reports that Kevin Mitnick, a famous hacker, has been “running an exclusive brokerage service through which interested parties can buy and sell premium zero-days.”
The US government is yet to disclose the vulnerability data to Apple so that the tech company can patch it.

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/fbi-paid-grey-ha...#ixzz45mgtKS4N