Items tagged with james comey
Less than two weeks before U.S. elections kick off on November 8th, the FBI has released a new bombshell that threatens to shakeup what has already been an almost circus-like campaign season. FBI Director James Comey, who is known more widely in the circles for his staunch criticism of Apple in the San Bernardino iPhone encryption case, just sent a letter to Congress informing them that there have been newly uncovered emails that are pertinent to the department’s investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s personal email server. "In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation,” wrote...
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Earlier this year, the FBI and Apple were embroiled in a bitter battle of words with regards to unlocking an iPhone 5c that was used by Syed Farook, one of two San Bernardino shooters. After much bluster on the part of FBI, and complete stonewalling from Apple, the FBI eventually went to a third-party vendor to bypass the iPhone 5c’s security protocols and obtain the data it was searching for. With the Freedom of Information Act on their side, three news organizations — the Associated Press, USA Today, and Vice Media — reached out to the FBI to obtain details on how the hack was carried out on the iPhone 5c in question, and how much was paid to the third-party for access. FBI director James Comey...
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Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire whiz kid who created the most popular social networking site on the planet, puts tape on his system's webcams. While that might sound paranoid to some, it's a common privacy measure against hackers who might be trying to spy on you or your company. Zuckerberg is far from alone—James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), uses a piece of tape on his personal laptop's webcam and recommends that everyone else does as well. "There's some sensible things you should be doing, and that's one of them," Comey said during a recent conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to Comey, covering webcams is common practice...
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The FBI ultimately dropped its suit against Apple involving the now infamous iPhone that was connected to a terrorist in the San Bernardino shooting, but the quest to set a legal precedent marches on. FBI Director James Comey hinted as much when said this week there would be more legal battles over encryption and with regards to forcing tech companies to help law enforcement access data on electronic devices.It's not game over, in other words. Though the FBI ultimately didn't need Apple's help in extracting data from the iPhone 5c model it confiscated from a dead terrorist who had locked the handset with a passcode, there's still the issue of whether or not the government has the power to force...
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The high profile dispute between the FBI and Apple is one that didn't have to play out in the public eye. Had the FBI gone to Apple right away with the iPhone 5c that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters, Apple could instructed the agency on the proper steps to obtaining the data kept inside, but the FBI made a mistake. FBI director James Comey admitted as much during a House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday."There was a mistake made in the first 24 hours, where the county, at the FBI's request, made it hard to make the phone back up by [changing he password of] the iCloud account," Comey testified. His statement was an about-face from comments made prior to the hearing in which...
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It seems like everyone and their uncle has an opinion or proposed solution on the iPhone encryption debate that has Apple at odds with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Apple's stance is that complying with the court order to essentially push out a security-breaking update to the iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters would set a dangerous legal precedent that puts the security and privacy of all iPhone owners at risk. As you might imagine, the FBI feels a bit differently, and now its director is appealing to the public's emotional side.In an op-ed piece posted to Lawfare, a blog devoted to "that nebulous zone in which actions taken or contemplated to protect the...
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It looks as though tech firms have gotten a reprieve on forcefully decrypting data at the behest of law enforcement officials; at least for now. FBI Director James Comey, who has been an outspoken voice against tech companies that have implemented system wide encryption for their mobile operating systems, delivered the welcome news while testifying at a Senate hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “The administration has decided not to seek a legislative remedy now, but it makes sense to continue the conversations with [the] industry.” Those comments were echoed by, National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh, who stated, “As part of those efforts, we are...
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There are plenty in the cybersecurity industry that contend that North Korea couldn’t have possibly orchestrated the devastating hack on Sony in retaliation for the comedic film The Interview. In mid-December, cybersecurity analyst Marc Rogers dismissed the FBI’s assertion that North Korea was behind the attacks, stating, “The broken English looks deliberately bad and doesn’t exhibit any of the classic comprehension mistakes you actually expect to see in ‘Konglish’. i.e it reads to me like an English speaker pretending to be bad at writing English.” Rogers went on to add; “The fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale & language actually makes it less likely to be North Korea....
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