Authorities want Apple to unlock the iPhone of the Sutherland Springs shooter
Image Source: Zach Epstein, BGR
@chris_writes
Remember all the fuss about Apple refusing to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooters? Well, it might all happen again, as authorities have served Apple a search warrant for the iPhone SE belonging to the Sutherland Springs shooter who killed 26 people a couple of weeks ago in Texas.
The shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, had two devices on him when he was found dead by authorities, including an iPhone SE.
Texas Ranger Kevin Wright obtained a search warrant on November 9th, MySanAntonio reports.
Authorities want access to the phone’s contents, as well as iCloud data, but they may have a hard time obtaining it.
As TechCrunch explains, Apple has been proactive in this case, reaching out to authorities in early November and offering assistance. The investigators could have tried to unlock the iPhone with the help of the shooter’s fingerprint in the first hours after the tragic event, but that’s only if the shooter did use Touch ID to protect his phone. However, if they failed to do it in the first hours, or if they failed to identify the correct finger, a passcode would be needed.
It’s unclear what kind of information Apple can extract from the phone or iCloud without breaking the phone’s encryption. iCloud backups are probably the police’s best bet at this point. Breaking the iPhone’s actual encryption via a backdoor was the object of the San Bernardino-related confrontation between Apple and the FBI. That’s something Apple isn’t likely to build this time around either.
Apple reached out to law enforcement after a press conference on November 7th, TechCrunch says, but law enforcement has yet to contact the company for unlocking the device, in spite of issuing the warrant two days after that press conference.
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