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Is It Time To Ditch Your iPhone? What The End Of The Apple Legal Battle Means To You

By Coburn Palmer
Published on: 21:30 PST, Mar 28, 2016

The U.S. Department of Justice just used a third party to hack the San Bernardino gunman’s phone, ending their legal battle with Apple, and that might mean it’s time to ditch your iPhone.

The end of the legal battle means a victory for Apple, which wasn’t forced to spill its secrets, but the creation of the security backdoor means it’s possible to hack the extremely popular iPhone, which could be bad for consumers.

If it can be done once, it can be done again, and that’s a problem for the company and its customers.

It’s also a problem for privacy advocates, who fear the DOJ will use the tactic again and again to break into other suspects’ iPhones, software developer Moxie Marlinspike told The Guardian.

The thing about the world where the FBI doesn’t miss anything, that’s a world where the FBI knows everything.

The legal battle between Apple and the Justice Department began about five weeks ago, when a judge ordered the company to help the FBI crack the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

Apple responded by refusing the court order, arguing that hacking into the cell phone with a workaround would endanger the privacy of every iPhone user.

A slew of court battles ensued, followed by Congressional hearings, protests, and lots of media headlines. That is until the FBI was approached by a third party who volunteered to hack into the shooter’s iPhone for the government.

Now, with the iPhone successfully hacked by the unknown third party, the Apple legal battle is over, but sadly the security and privacy implications remain.

Without the continuing court case, Apple has no power to compel the government to release information on the third party hack, so it has no way to circumvent the security breach of its software.

The government has deemed the method used to hack into the iPhone so important it has classified the information, reports The Guardian.

If the security hack, or backdoor, is discovered, it could be used by other government agencies, criminals, malicious software, or even Apple itself to reengineer their software so the tactic won’t work.

The security exploit could be used on any number of cases, but every time it does the government risks exposing its secret; the more people who know the secret, the less likely it is to remain private.

If the security backdoor became public knowledge, hackers could use it to infiltrate the country’s most popular cell phone causing untold damage to Apple, ACLU spokesman Christopher Soghoian told The Guardian.

There are going to be some really interesting and difficult questions between state and local law enforcement agencies. This is a capability the FBI hasn’t had for a number of years.

That doesn’t mean it’s time to count Apple out, however.

Apple software engineers have been working overtime to develop new security measures that would make the backdoor created by the third party irrelevant. The new software would make it impossible to brute force the iPhone passcode, making the cell phone secure even from itself.

The new security feature would mean the third-party hack created by the third party for the FBI couldn’t be used again, senior Brookings Institute fellow Benjamin Wittes told the New York Times.

We are in for an arms race unless and until Congress decides to clarify who has what obligations in situations like this.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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