14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is once again in the middle of a controversy regarding the use of encryption on iPhones after the FBI requested the company to break into two password-protected smartphones used by the shooter in the Florida naval base attack last month.
While Apple said it was working with investigators on providing them with the data in its possession, the company suggested it won’t hack into the iPhones to extract more data.
This is the position the company has expressed in 2015 as well, when the FBI also wanted Apple to unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino attacker.
Speaking at CES as part of a rare appearance for Apple, Jane Horvath, the company’s chief privacy officer, explained that the tough encryption is used to protect customers, especially as the data stored on their iPhones is prone to unauthorized access in case the device is lost.
“End to end encryption is critically important to the services we come to rely on…. health data, payment data. Phones are relatively small they get lost and stolen. We need to make sure that if you misplace that device you’re not [exposing that data],” she said, according to The Telegraph.
Breaking into an iPhone
Apple CEO Tim Cook warned in early 2016 that hacking into an iPhone would compromise the security of all iPhones.
“In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession,” he warned in a public letter.
“Some would argue that building a backdoor for just one iPhone is a simple, clean-cut solution. But it ignores both the basics of digital security and the significance of what the government is demanding in this case.”
The FBI eventually unlocked the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone with the help of a third party.