Reply to: No likey no unlocky

[Troll]

Aha! I knew there were backdoors into everything

An Israeli newspaper has since reported that data forensics experts at Cellebrite are involved in the case.

Cellebrite told the BBC that it works with the FBI but would not say more.

Its website, however, states that one of its tools can extract and decode data from the iPhone 5C - the model in question - among other locked handsets. Apple has refused to help the FBI do this.

"File system extractions, decoding and analysis can be performed on locked iOS devices with a simple or complex passcode," Cellebrite's site states.

"Simple passcodes will be recovered during the physical extraction process and enable access to emails and keychain passwords.

"If a complex password is set on the device, physical extraction can be performed without access to emails and keychain."

The keychain reference relates to a tool on Apple devices that allows all of an owner's log-ins to be revealed if a master password is known.

[darmstadt]

Whoops Paper 1, iPad Pro 0: the moment Apple's iPad Pro fails company's top lawyer | Technology | The Guardian

[NotAllThere]

...

So, basically, Apple had already done all it could to help the FBI, including explaining exactly what needed to be done next. But before Apple had the chance to do that someone at the FBI thought they knew better, and instead ****ed it up.

Should have called in GCHQ

[NickFitz]

The plot thickens: it turns out the iPhone in question isn't the shooter's own; it's his work phone. He destroyed his own and his wife's phones.

But if it's his work phone, wouldn't his employer (San Bernardino County Department of Public Health) have control of it? Why yes, they would. But the FBI, having got the phone, asked the employer to reset the password on it.

And that's why they can no longer get his data off it: setting the new password uncoupled it from the guy's iCloud account.

And they did this after Apple had already explained to them how they could, probably, get the guy's data off it despite not having the password, just by letting it connect to wifi and back itself up to iCloud, whereupon Apple would hand them the backup, just as they had done already with the guy's earlier iCloud backups.

CORRECTION: it appears the FBI asked the employer to reset the password before seeking Apple's advice. They also didn't tell Apple they'd done this. So Apple told them to let it connect to the wifi at his place of work to create an iCloud backup as described above, and the FBI tried it, and told Apple it didn't work; and Apple said "WTF? Not sure why that wouldn't work" and then the FBI were like "Oh, BTW we reset the password before we ever asked you for help, but that shouldn't matter, right?" and Apple were like ""

So, basically, Apple had already done all it could to help the FBI, including explaining exactly what needed to be done next. But before Apple had the chance to do that someone at the FBI thought they knew better, and instead ****ed it up.

Ho hum

[DaveB]

From the 1994 NYT article:



To paraphrase the other article 'America failed to put 2 and 2 together to make 4' - i.e. Given their own intelligence gathering they would almost certainly have identified that Pearl Harbour was a target for the Japanese given their previous.


From the site I mentioned above (my bolding):

All of which supports the view that while the British knew the Japanese were planning something, they didn't know specifically what. From the Telegraph article on the Memo concerning Japanese activity:

The information, contained in a declassified memorandum from the Office of Naval Intelligence, adds to proof that Washington dismissed red flags signalling that mass bloodshed was looming and war was imminent.


"In anticipation of possible open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii," stated the 26-page memo.

Dated December 4, 1941, marked as confidential, and entitled "Japanese intelligence and propaganda in the United States," it flagged up Japan's surveillance of Hawaii under a section headlined "Methods of Operation and Points of Attack."

From the NYT Article:

The document said that as of Dec. 1, 1941, British intelligence had determined that of Japan's 10 aircraft carriers, four were in the South China Sea near Formosa and four others in Japanese home waters, Dr. Best said. Intelligence reports said the other two carriers were near Saipan, more than 3,000 miles west of Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 4.

In reality, two of the carriers that British intelligence thought were in the South China Sea and all four of those assumed to be in Japanese waters were heading under radio silence toward Pearl Harbor, Dr. Best said.

"This was an internal history, designed for internal consumption only," Dr. Best said. "There's no reason for it to say something designed to mislead. I think this does prove, since there's no reason for it to have an angle, that Britain did not know."

The Americans had everything they needed to conclude there would be an attack. They ignored it.

[NigelJK]

From the 1994 NYT article:

"The time has come for Britain to declassify its full contemporary records or the myth will grow on this side of the Atlantic that American history is being held hostage by the British obsession with secrecy," Mr. Costello said.

To paraphrase the other article 'America failed to put 2 and 2 together to make 4' - i.e. Given their own intelligence gathering they would almost certainly have identified that Pearl Harbour was a target for the Japanese given their previous.


From the site I mentioned above (my bolding):

On November 19, 1941, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo sent out a 'Purple' message to its embassies and consulates around the world. It instructed them to listen to Japanese news bulletins. If they ended with a weather report saying 'east wind rain' the attack would be on the US. 'North wind cloudy' would mean an attack on Russia, and 'west wind clear' would herald an attack on the British, with an invasion of Thailand or Malaya, or an attack on the Dutch East Indies. Both the British listening station in Melbourne and the American station in Seattle intercepted this and reported it to London and Washington respectively. While the Japanese diplomatic traffic still talked of negotiation, JN-25 traffic intercepted by the British talked of 'opening hostilities.' From November 21, it was clear that an attack was being set in motion and a large Japanese fleet was being assembled. Meanwhile, Japanese merchant ships were sailing home.

[TheFaQQer]

New Light Shed on Churchill and Pearl Harbor - NYTimes.com

Pearl Harbour memo shows US warned of Japanese attack - Telegraph

Yes we had broken the Japanese cypher, but that didn't mean we knew about Pearl Harbour. We had also warned the Americans about Japanese military activity in general, but our own intelligence was flawed and the Americans ignored it anyway.

What have I told you before about coming round these parts with your research and facts? We don't need that sort of thing round here.

[DaveB]

American Military History publishers site



Note that this is not the 'Churchill sent a telegram to Roosevelt' conspiracy here.

New Light Shed on Churchill and Pearl Harbor - NYTimes.com

Pearl Harbour memo shows US warned of Japanese attack - Telegraph

Yes we had broken the Japanese cypher, but that didn't mean we knew about Pearl Harbour. We had also warned the Americans about Japanese military activity in general, but our own intelligence was flawed and the Americans ignored it anyway.

[LondonManc]

American Military History publishers site

Note that this is not the 'Churchill sent a telegram to Roosevelt' conspiracy here.

Interesting. It also seems to suggest that the American military seemed keen to keep POTUS at arm's length, compared to Winston's active involvement.

[DaveB]

And this is stored somewhere for checking yes?

No.

At the point of encryption the key is generated from the UID and PIN and used to encrypt the data. The key is then forgotten.

To decrypt the data and gain access the key is generated again each time the phone is unlocked. Once it has been used it is forgotten. The key to decrypt the data is never stored anywhere, only the UID in the secure enclave, and the PIN which only the owner should know.

The only point at which you *may* be able to retrieve the encryption key would be if you had full control of the device and it was unlocked. i.e. you knew the PIN. I doubt it would be a trivial task.

[NigelJK]

The whole thing about Churchill knowing about Pearl Harbour is just another conspiracy theory and has been debunked by several sources.

American Military History publishers site

Throughout the first year of the war, Churchill bombarded Roosevelt with flattering messages. At the same time, he skillfully manipulated the intelligence he shared with Roosevelt to maneuver America to the brink of war. The Americans had cracked the Japanese diplomatic codes and, in January 1941, they gave the British the Purple and 'Red' decoding machines which allowed the British to read Japanese diplomatic traffic. In return, they expected to be given the German Enigma code machine, so they could break the German codes. The British refused to hand one over. It was not until after the attack on Pearl Harbor that the Americans learned the British had broken the Japanese navy code JN-25.

The British had listening posts in the Far East, with headquarters in Singapore. From 1939, they had been on a war footing and priority was given to intercepting enemy messages and decoding them. Churchill insisted on seeing all JN-25 messages personally.

While America was still at peace, code-breaking was not given priority. Its western-most listening station was in Seattle. Some of the crucial intercepts indicating that the Japanese intended to attack Pearl Harbor were not decoded until after 1945, and due to security considerations, President Roosevelt was often not privy to raw intelligence. There were US liaison officers at the British decoding center in Singapore, but they were not allowed to see raw intelligence and did not even know that the British had broken JN-25. British and Australian intelligence officers sent all their decrypts back to London, assuming that intelligence concerning an attack on Pearl Harbor would be forwarded to the Americans. It was not.

Note that this is not the 'Churchill sent a telegram to Roosevelt' conspiracy here.

[NigelJK]

by combining that UID with the owners PIN code and hashing it with AES 256

And this is stored somewhere for checking yes?

[DaveB]

Where does the device store the security number for checking?
If you were the NSA would you let on that you knew how to crack it (what I would call the Bletchley conumdrum)?

Apparently Churhill was notified of the Pearl Harbour attack hours before hand (Bletchly having broken the Japanese Navel code - something no one else managed), think he must have be busy as he completely forgot to mention it to the Yanks.

If you read the links to the technical discussions that Nick posted you'll see.

Essentially every new iPhone (6 onwards) has a unique ID (UID) number hardcoded into a specific CPU ,known as the Secure Enclave, dedicated to the encryption functions that can't be read back and has it's own hardwired access channels. Apple don't keep records of these UID's and there is no way to identify the UID a phone has.

The storage on the phone is encrypted by combining that UID with the owners PIN code and hashing it with AES 256 (IIRC). Even if you take an image of the encrypted disk you can't decrypt it as it needs access to the UID on the specific hardware, and you can't unlock the hardware without the pin code.

This particular case is slightly different as it involves an iPhone 5C, which doesn't use the secure enclave, so there *may* be a way for Apple to do what they have been asked to do but they aren't letting on whether it's possible or not.

The whole thing about Churchill knowing about Pearl Harbour is just another conspiracy theory and has been debunked by several sources.

[NigelJK]

Where does the device store the security number for checking?
If you were the NSA would you let on that you knew how to crack it (what I would call the Bletchley conumdrum)?

Apparently Churhill was notified of the Pearl Harbour attack hours before hand (Bletchly having broken the Japanese Navel code - something no one else managed), think he must have be busy as he completely forgot to mention it to the Yanks.

[clearedforlanding]

Oh and shame on the blog for calling it PIN Number. They should throw themselves off the top of Mount Fujiyama.

Irritates the hell out of me.

Its interesting for me to think of these stats this way. For every 10000 cards a Romanian/Albanian gang in London pickpockets, with 3 attempts at a PIN, they are going to strike on over 1700 cards just by trying the PINS 1234, 1111 & 0000. (OK, it's a small sample size but I can visualise it). UK average 4 cards per wallet (2 credit & 2 debit), less than 10 marks a day.

∴ Pickpocketing is more profitable than contracting. Looking at the SC questions in the Business / Contracts forum, contracting appears to be a backup plan for when you get busted pickpocketing.