The FBI cant access over 50% of devices due to data encryption

[Exterminator]

Christopher Wray, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has said that the agency has a "huge, huge problem" with data encryption denying it the ability to access numerous devices.

Wray, speaking at the 2017 International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference (IACP 2017) in Philadelphia, revealed that the FBI had been unable break into over 50% of devices it wanted to gain access to over an 11-month period, amounting to around 7000 mobile devices. However, he didn't mention the specific devices and encryption methods that are giving the FBI trouble were not mentioned, perhaps for security reasons.

Wray added that there needed to be more of a balance struck between giving his agency the tools it needed in order to maintain public safety and personal data encryption. Assumedly, he was referring to the agency needing to have the tools to fight terrorism and crime effectively, but in the USA there would probably be various advocates of personal privacy and liberty that might be very much against the expansion of such abilities from their government.

It is no secret that devices are becoming more secure and harder to gain access to, particularly as the makers of these devices, as well as other businesses, begin to rely on biometric authentication, requiring the owner's facial, iris, or fingerprint scans. But the FBI has shown that it is more than eager to be given a "backdoor" to these new obstacles and encrypted communications, going as far as offering bribes for them.

Source: Evening Standard

 

[tim one]

Have they forgotten the password?

 

[Deleted member 65228]

Maybe there would not be a problem with such demands if things were different, but a majority of people will jump at the chance to disagree with such power being granted to agencies due to privacy breach reasons.

A lot of intelligence has been leaked over numerous years, and some of the things people have found out from it can be really shocking. Surveillance should be used responsibly... Genuine and legitimate reasons after correct evaluation/assessment should provide the right to use powerful surveillance tools.

Devices becoming more secure and encryption being used protects people from attackers who do not work for government agencies who have malicious intent. Virtual Private Network usage (also encryption) keeps your IP masked against online attackers, thus helping to prevent your IP address being snatched by someone who is criminal who can then use it to attack your network and bring down your internet due to resources being used up (e.g. DDOS attack, flooding your network with packets).

If government agencies want more power to get by security restrictions in the modern world, they should have reasonable plans to ensure it is used appropriately only when it is necessary in a secure manner - there needs to be people to assess everyone using the tools who are in control on the usage as well as people in control of those people responsible for management. We know that the NSA develop zero-day exploits, some are very dangerous and powerful, and we also know that they weren't stored securely enough because some of them were stolen and used for some very deadly ransomware attacks in the modern world (WannaCry, and then NotPetya afterwards). It wasn't even that long ago, its only been a few months since...

With great power brings great responsibility... The sort of tools they are after are not "toys" and it would provide them leverage over non-US citizens, too.

 

[Arequire]

I understand the FBI's frustration over this but the fact is that the surge in the use of encryption over the past 4 years is solely down to the wholesale abuse of data conducted by agencies like theirs.
Encryption also protects the data of law-abiding US citizens from the exact same criminals the FBI references.

 

[codswollip]

they should have reasonable plans to ensure it is used appropriately only when it is necessary in a secure manner

Impossible.