My View on the Apple vs FBI Investigation

This week’s technological news has been swarmed completely with the story that has erupted over the FBI and Apple. In short, the FBI has access to an iPhone which they believe to have important information on it (since it was from a criminal who had in fact murdered 14 people with an accomplice). However, Apple are refusing to enable access to the iPhone, even for the FBI, claiming it will create a backdoor access to anyone with an iPhone. This begs the question – which is worse: helping the FBI but threatening the security of every iPhone on the planet or saying no to the FBI? 

The iPhone the FBI has access to is simply locked with a four digit passcode. However, after ten attempts, the phone’s content, due to the security in the software, will erase all the data on it, which is exactly what the FBI does not want. For this reason, the FBI wanted Apple to provide them with software so that they had unlimited attempts at the passcode and also provide software to enable efficient input of all the possible combinations for the passcode so that they do not have to go through all of the possible combinations manually, which is in its thousands upon thousands upon thousands…

Basically, the FBI want Apple to overwrite the software with new software which will make it extremely easy to unlock a locked iPhone.

However, by creating a software to do just that for the FBI and the good of their investigation, it is doing the complete opposite for every single person who owns an iPhone. By creating software that will weaken the security of an iPhone is, in essence, creating a ‘backdoor’ entry for any iPhone, if the software managed to get onto that iPhone. But, what makes it most controversial are the below following two points:

• If Apple created software that makes a ‘hole’ in the security of the iPhone, the FBI could reuse that software again and again, potentially for the wrong reasons. Once it is created, there is no going back.
• In this day and age, it is always far too common how easy it is for things to get into the wrong hands. If this software that can be loaded onto any locked iPhone to help unlock it is copied and put into the wrong hands, there will be hundreds of millions of devices that are at risk. This would both be extremely dangerous and ruin the reputation of Apple and the iPhone, who customers will have lost faith in.

Ultimately, Apple are doing the right thing. It’s hard to say but if they created software for a one off investigation, that software could be used for another investigation and then could somehow end up in the wrong hands. I know this investigation is to find out information for a murderer. But, if the case is won by the FBI, then this has the repercussions that any tech company could be forced to provide security holes in their software for ‘an investigation’…I am a little concerned by that.