FBI statistic: 87% of the needed data could be accessed in 2016
Motherboard online just published numbers that were disclosed by the FBI concerning whether the FBI is able to unlock most devices they need to get into.
According to General Counsel Jim Baker the FBI is able to unlock or/and access data stored on both smartphones and computers. This statement is supported by the numbers that were released.
In 2016 the FBI
- has encountered passwords or passcodes in 2,095 out of 6,814 – 31%,
- with regard to the 2,095 devices that were locked, the investigators were able to get access in 1,210 cases and
- couldn’t unlock around 880 devices.
- In conclusion, in the vast majority of cases, namely 87%, the FBI was able to access the data that was needed.
Concidering that the FBI and Apple fought in court earlier this year regarding the FBI’s request to help breaking into the iPhone of an alleged terrorist who killed 14 people in a shooting and that this case led to a battle on encryption in which the FBI argued that encryption, which cannot be broken, supports criminal investigations rather than making them harder due to the fact that access to the data can sometimes lead to important evidence on a suspect or on a victim’s phone or computer.
However, the mentioned numbers, that have so far never been published, “demonstrate that even with encryption turned on by default on all newer iPhones and some Android phones, it is posing a problem in a relatively small number of cases – while that same encryption is presumably preventing a wide range of crimes”, according to Kevin Bankston, the director of the New America.
