How iPhone's encryption has triggered a war between Apple, US spy agencies

A woman looks at the screen of her mobile phone in front of an Apple logo outside its store in Shanghai, China July 30, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC15B60780F0

Tech giant Apple has been served a warrant to provide access to the iPhone SE used by the person who recently gunned down 27 people in a Texas church, according to a report by San Antonio Express-News.

The warrant, which has been issued by Texas Rangers, seeks digital photos, messages, documents and other types of data that might have been stored on the phone by the gunman and on his iCloud account.

While Apple refused to comment on the matter, the company’s policy regarding iCloud content implies that it may provide the necessary data to the investigating agency if the latter produces a search warrant.

However, things haven’t always been smooth between law enforcement agencies and Apple when it comes to unlocking a user-encrypted iOS device or accessing its contents.

Apple vs FBI

Apple was engaged in a brawl with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over gaining access into San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c. Both parties were even engaged in a six-month legal tussle in which the judge had ordered the company to provide "reasonable technical assistance" to the US authorities. However, Apple refused to comply with the judge's order, creating a huge furore among law enforcement agencies.

In the end, the FBI had to take assistance from a third-party Israeli firm Cellebrite, which unlocked the phone in question. FBI later dropped the case against the company and declined to divert the information on how it was able to hack into the phone.

Apple vs CIA

In 2015, the Intercept obtained secret documents revealing Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) attempts to exploit security breaches on iPhones for periods lasting several years.

The agency’s efforts were assumably directed towards breaching the device’s security and installing malicious codes on the phones, which in turn would enable spying on users.

Earlier this year, Whistleblower WikiLeaks leaked data suggesting CIA has a whole army of software exploits, which can be used to attack iOS based devices.

The leaks indicated that CIA has, in fact, employed a specialised internal group that is engaged only in exploiting iOS based devices such as iPhone, iPad, etc. However, it would be necessary to note that CIA’s arsenal is not limited to iOS device and extends to other platforms such as Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc.