Apple vows to resist FBI demand to crack iPhone linked to San Bernardino attacks

Apple has announced that it will not comply with the FBI’s request that it build software that will grant access to an iPhone that belonged to Syed Rizwan Farook – one of the people responsible for the San Bernardino attacks last December. The Washington Post reports that Apple is refusing because compliance would require them to undermine the security of all Apply products. The FBI is currently unable to unlock the phone because it has a feature that will delete all its information if the wrong password is entered 10 times. The FBI is requesting that Apple build a program to suspend this feature, so that they can unlock the phone by trying different password combinations until they find the correct one. According to Apple, such a program would be like a key that could unlock any lock, and as such it represents too great a security risk for them to be willing to make it. Some cybersecurity experts argue that, even if Apple did create the program, it could take 10 years to crack the password using the FBI’s method. The Cipher Brief reported extensively on the encryption debate last fall, and the latest move by Apple appears to represent a renewal of the tensions between the tech industry and the FBI on this issue.