Apple steps up encrytion to thwart police cracking of iPhones

Apple said Wednesday it was strengthening encryption on its iPhones to thwart police efforts to unlock handsets without legitimate authorization.

The move by Apple, the latest in an ongoing clash with law enforcement, comes amid reports of growing use of a tool known as GrayKey which can enable police to bypass iPhone security features.

Apple said the new features are not designed to frustrate law enforcement but prevent any bypassing of encryption by good or bad actors.

"At Apple, we put the customer at the center of everything we design," the company said in a statement.

"We're constantly strengthening the security protections in every Apple product to help customers defend against hackers, identity thieves and intrusions into their personal data. We have the greatest respect for law enforcement, and we don't design our security improvements to frustrate their efforts to do their jobs."

Apple said it was working a fix to mitigate the possibility of accessing data from GrayKey or similar tools.

Apple said that it has a team that responds to law enforcement and national security requests 24 hours a day. But the company has been a target of some in law enforcement for rejecting efforts to allow easy access to iPhones.

Two years ago, Apple went to court to block an FBI effort to force it to weaken iPhone encryption on the device of a mass shooter in San Bernardino, California, but officials dropped the case after finding a tool to unlock the phone.

Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Elbit Systems launches SigmaCell a real-time active cellular intelligence system
Haifa, Israel (SPX) Jun 13, 2018
Elbit Systems is introducing SigmaCell, a real-time active cellular intelligence system that neutralizes cellular communications of terrorists and criminals. Based on Elbit Systems' Signal Intelligence expertise, SigmaCell was designed to detect, identify, intercept and expose details of target cellular devices and their precise location. Covering the entire cellular spectrum (gsm, umts and lte) Sigmacell captures hundreds of devices simultaneously and can be remotely operated via a web based user ... read more