[Cryptography] The FBI can (almost certainly) crack the San Bernardino iPhone without Apple's help

[james hughes]

On Mar 1, 2016, at 2:48 AM, Jerry Leichter <leichter at lrw.com> wrote:

>> Just posted this, targeted more towards the general public than the people on this list, but I would appreciate feedback (and maybe an upvote on Hacker News):
>> 
>> http://blog.rongarret.info/2016/02/the-fbi-can-almost-certainly-crack-san.html
> Sigh.  This has become a meme so quickly, and it's just wrong.
> 
> You can clone the memory chip of an iPhone.  But even in the iPhone 5C in question, that doesn't give you the chip UUID, which is embedded in the processor - which provides no way to read it.  Without the UUID, knowing the lock code doesn't tell you the encryption key.


from the blog post. 
> Cracking a secure enclave requires actually getting inside the processor chip itself, a process known as decapping.  That's possible too (the NSA can probably do it) but it's much, much harder and requires very expensive and specialized (and probably classified) equipment.

In 2004ish I visited the UCL Crypto lab where this exact set of equipment is used to remove secrets from many types of powered off devices, chips, etc. Yes, the equipment is expensive but not beyond a university.


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