Australia the latest country to have no idea how encryption works … – BGR

Australia is the latest country to seek ways to access information passed between smartphones via encrypted apps, information that might be relevant to criminal investigations and counterterrorism operations. The Australian government wants to be able to spy on encrypted means of communications, whether theyre built in to devices like the iPhone, or apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and anything else that secures chats and voice calls. But, the Australian government has said it doesnt want backdoors in iOS! This only proves that governments still fail to grasp how encrypted iPhones work.

Apple top execs met twice with the Turnbull government in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald explains, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants to pass new encryption laws.

Turnbulls proposed regulations might compel tech companies to provide access to encrypted communications. Thats something Apple cant offer without backing a back door into iOS. Its San Bernardino all over again.

Apparently, Apple argued that if its compelled to create a back door into iPhones, then everyones security is at risk. The company said it provided significant assistance to police agencies during investigations. Apple did the same thing in America, providing user information, the kind of meta data thats still useful for investigations, and which isnt protected by encryption.

Turnbulls government, meanwhile, explicitly said it doesnt want a back door in iOS encryption, or weaker iOS encryption. But it does want Apple, and any other tech company to provide assistance to law enforcement agencies when thats needed.

This proves, yet again, that governments have no viable idea of how to tackle this sensitive problem. For the time being, it appears that you cant have it both ways. Its either end-to-end encryption which comes with the unwanted side effects like protecting communications between criminals or terrorist organizations. Or its weaker encryption, the kind the government can access, and the kind that can be hacked into by anyone with the means to do it.

The Australian government should introduce new encryption laws by the end of the year, and itll be interesting to see how it wants to crack into encrypted iPhones.

As for Apple, the company announced at WWDC 2017 that its going to continue to protect the users privacy when it comes to chats. iMessages synchronized with iCloud will be encrypted with private keys. Currently, Apple could offer law enforcements data from iPhone backups stored in the cloud that arent encrypted with unique keys.

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Australia the latest country to have no idea how encryption works ... - BGR