FBI Director James Comey has shown persistence when it comes to pushing the idea for manufacturers to allow their handsets to be unlocked by government authorities. Comey previously stated that the FBI was able to hack iPhone 5c because of the lack of the Secure Enclave on the phone’s A6 SoC that renders the phone vulnerable. The extra hardware security present inside the A7 chipset (present in iPhone 5s) is what makes the FBI’s efforts nullified in cracking modern day iPhones. These details are extremely scare, and not all of them have been made available to Apple, and we are sure that the company will want to know more so that it can make future plans to make the security of its chipsets even more robust than what A9 or A9X chipsets feature. Members of the Obama administration are divided on the encryption issue, and while The White House has reviewed the draft legislation and offered suggestions, it intends on staying out of a public debate concerning the proposal. According to the details of the draft proposal made by from Burr and Feinstein, tech companies would assist law enforcement agencies with unlocking encrypted devices. One reason why this is an ongoing saga is because terrorism and criminal activities have been on the rise, and thanks to smartphone encryption, whereabouts knowledge to government agencies is unknown. Currently, the Obama Administration intends to steer clear of the smartphone encryption story, but what about the administration that is going to succeed the current President’s? Looks like that will be a tale for another time. Reuters
