The problem of law enforcement and encryption is mostly talked about in vague terms of “backdoors” and “a new Manhattan Project”, but here’s something concrete: a US District Court Judge just ordered Apple to help the FBI access files on one of the iPhones of the San Bernardino shooters.
The ruling was handed down by Sheri Pym on Tuesday afternoon in Californian district court. According to the AP, it mandates Apple to supply the FBI with software that would prevent the iPhone from being unlocked after too many unsuccessful password attempts.
Apple has long maintained that following iOS 8, it can’t access information on a passcode-encrypted device. This ruling is kind of a way around that: it’s not mandating Apple to break the encryption per se, just help the FBI with what I assume is a very boring brute-force attack. Let’s just hope the passcode isn’t 1234.