
Apple Answers Questions about Apple and security - nxzero
http://apple.com/customer-letter/answers/
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freewizard
> From the Q&A: it is certainly possible to create an entirely new operating
> system to undermine our security features as the government wants.

I hope one day they can say "no, it's impossible", confidently and legally.

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thatcherclay
Something I do not understand in this debate is the notion that creating the
OS will somehow create an extra security vector - if they have the ability to
create it (ie, since they have the private signing key) then isn't that
already the same thing? It is not like Apple has a monopoly on good
developers, presumably if someone is able to obtain their signing key it would
lead to the same thing as obtaining the OS they are worried about getting out.

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nxzero
Agree, I've wonder this too, though I'm guessing Apple is very aware of this
and actively takes steps to make this near impossible. That said, I have never
seen any public statement on the topic from Apple why this is the case; I
asked them before and got no answer.

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pigpaws
SO the quest remains - if they can create their current OS without it getting
out into the 'wild', why are they so sure the 'new' OS would? "National
Security" will always win the argument - no matter what they say and hope,
even if the jack-boots have to break the doors in. I'm torn on the issue, but
again, it goes back to why are they sure the new OS will 'get out'?

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Rhapso
Time. They don't actually ensure that the current OS is not in the wild, they
just make sure it kept secret until they release it. They would need to
protect the OS and people who made it (or can make it) forever. The reality
is, simply by delivering the modified os, it leaves their security to be
handled by the honestly less competent FBI or law enforcement.

You are right about the government always finding a way to win, but this whole
case sounds like the FBI messed up on handling the phone as evidence and is
spinning the newsroom hard with the new drama with apple.

The reality is, despite apple's protests to the contrary, building the
modified OS and giving it to the FBI would hurt their business a lot in both
PR and savvy customers leaving.

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pigpaws
you're assuming that apple will give it to them. Theoretically, the FBI could
deliver the phone Friday, pick it up on Monday, along with the data... nothing
(OS-WISE) changes hands, it doesn't 'get out', and could be destroyed or kept
for only the most 'national security' required cases... (we all know then that
EVERYTHING will be NS).

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sangnoir
> nothing (OS-WISE) changes hands, it doesn't 'get out'

It would have to 'get out' if it's installed on the phone. You are assuming
the FBI (or other interested TLA agencies) lack the ability to extract the the
compromised OS from the phone and/or retarget it to other devices. An even
more nefarious scheme would be to modify the current code on the iPhone so
that it logs Apples signing as they apply the update, but that edging into
tinfoil territory

