It seems Apple is in no mood for giving up in the confrontation against the all-powerful FBI over the latter’s demand that the company should hack into the iPhone used by one of the terrorists involved in last year’s San Bernardino attacks.
Apple has so far refused to comply with the agency’s demand citing that even if they could pull it off legally or technologically, doing so could eventually escalate to a dangerous precedence vis-a-vis the’ right to privacy of its users.
Both parties are counting on the US legal system to resolve the dispute. However, it seems even if the FBI wins the case, it might still not be possible for the agency to unlock the device.
According to a New York Times report, the company’s security engineers who helped create the security system currently deployed on the iPhone will quit if the FBI tries to force them to hack into the device in question. Without their help, it would be practically impossible for the feds to access the phone’s content as these engineers were the ones who designed and developed the device’s encryption system in the first place.
Tim Cook CEO of Apple Inc. also stated that any attempt to compel the company’s engineers into cracking the iPhone’s encryption system will be in violation with the firm’s values.
“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers – including tens of millions of American citizens – from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe,” Cook warned.