John McAfee Will Hack the San Bernardino Phone to Save America

[Yopaz]

"Because the FBI will not hire anyone with a 24-inch purple mohawk, 10-gauge ear piercings, and a tattooed face who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year. But you bet your ass that the Chinese and Russians are hiring similar people with similar demands and have been for many years. It's why we are decades behind in the cyber race."

Of course the FBI aren't hiring people like that. They're smart enough to train their own people before they go looking for shadowrunners.

I doubt it. China (hello Donald Trump) has been hiring people like that for years and lets them do all sorts of shenanigans. Do you think the FBI is "smart" enough to train their own people to such a high standard while China isn't?

But China got a lot more resources. Put a bunch of Asian kids in front of a laptop and give them an infinite amount of time and they will eventually bang out an encryption key. Wait, that was chimps, typewriters and Shakespeare. Carry on.

OT: As others have already said,I do love reading about the crazy ramblings from this man. I never even know when he's being serious and when he's going for comedy.

 

[Veylon]

Never mind the encryption skills or the integrity of the FBI - among other agencies - I don't buy that they can keep the key to themselves. Government secrets seem to have no trouble flying out of the vaults and into the public domain. How long before the next Manning or Snowden releases the key for all to use? Less idealistically, how long before the next Robert Hanssen sells it to a foreign power?

 

[NLS]

Top man. It's nice to see someone not crying about privacy for a change and getting shit done.

I'll give him A for effort and spirit, buuuuuuuut... Acquiring the unlock code for the iPhone of a dead person through social engineering? How does he even?

 

[Doozie]

That's awesome, way to be a good human Mr. Mcafee. Hack that shit!

 

[Space Jawa]

If this works, I full expect we'll be getting at least a couple movies based around this whole situation in the relatively near future. It's too good a story not to.

On the other hand, even if it doesn't work, we still might get a movie or two out of it, it'll just be far more likely to come out as a full-on tragedy, especially if the FBI gets that backdoor they're demanding.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I'm not entirely convinced that John McAfee is even a real person at this point. I mean, I'm sure he was a real person at one point, but I think he's taken so many drugs he's lifted off and ascended into the realm of imagination.

Well he did make this video:

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Well he did make this video:

Holy crap, the start of that video is hilarious. XDDD Make me wonder if he secretly isn't nearly as insane as he looks.

 

[Dango]

Make me wonder if he secretly isn't nearly as insane as he looks.

Before you make that assumption, remember the he claims he inhaled an "unknown substance" while working at NASA that caused him to live the entirety of another life in his before returning to the real world.

The man is off the wall bonkers.

And I kind of admire that.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Well he did make this video:

That was awesome.

OT; His statement, or whenever anyone mentions the FBI in general, always remind me of how more than a few of their employees have been busted using federal resources to spy on their wives/husbands, and how some have even to be found stalking people.

 

[HomuraDidNothinWrong]

I "love" how no one has actually read the court order. Theres no back door involved. The court order basicly says "oi. Apple. Take this one phone to your lab. Put a custom firmware on this one phone. Turn remote access on for the fbi. The phone remains in your possession so the fbi can't get access to anything but the files on the phone. And we'll even pay you for your time "

 

[Saulkar]

Interesting. I can see where he is coming from and it does not take any stretch of the imagination to believe that nations are already testing each other's cyber-defenses. Maybe even causing some deliberate damage here and there.

Top man. It's nice to see someone not crying about privacy for a change

That is our job, to cry about stand up for privacy.

and getting shit done.

The former does not negate the latter.

 

[Remus]

This is whole thing is starting to sound more and more like some of my convoluted and over the top anime plots. I'm interested in what's the next move gonna be. The crazy genius millionaire is assembling a team of other crazy geniuses in order to fight the evil mastermind. They will be facing off a series of dangerous puzzles in order to save the world... get some potentially useful but certainly out of date information from the encrypted phone.

He sounds like a cool nutcase.

He sounds like a Croft. not the young one that backflips over enemies while aiming for center mass, but the old decrepit one with all the money and crazy secrets that left his daughter his estate.

 

[Yopaz]

"Because the FBI will not hire anyone with a 24-inch purple mohawk, 10-gauge ear piercings, and a tattooed face who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year. But you bet your ass that the Chinese and Russians are hiring similar people with similar demands and have been for many years. It's why we are decades behind in the cyber race."

Of course the FBI aren't hiring people like that. They're smart enough to train their own people before they go looking for shadowrunners.

I doubt it. China (hello Donald Trump) has been hiring people like that for years and lets them do all sorts of shenanigans. Do you think the FBI is "smart" enough to train their own people to such a high standard while China isn't?

But China got a lot more resources. Put a bunch of Asian kids in front of a laptop and give them an infinite amount of time and they will eventually bang out an encryption key. Wait, that was chimps, typewriters and Shakespeare. Carry on.

OT: As others have already said,I do love reading about the crazy ramblings from this man. I never even know when he's being serious and when he's going for comedy.

I'm not so sure about that m8, most youths in China only have internet access when they go to a cafe.

China: population of 1.3 billions.
United States of America: population of 0.3 billions.
It's all in the numbers m8.

 

[TechNoFear]

LOL! Social engineering has no possibility of working...

Theres no back door involved. The court order basicly says "oi. Apple. Take this one phone to your lab. Put a custom firmware on this one phone. Turn remote access on for the fbi. The phone remains in your possession so the fbi can't get access to anything but the files on the phone. And we'll even pay you for your time "

What do you think the 'custom firmware' contains?

The FBI want Apple to produce a version of the phone firmware that has parts of the security system disabled.

Specifically the system that wipes all data from the phone after 10 incorrect passwords, allowing a brute force password attack.

That is the definition of a 'back door': a method, often secret, that allows access by bypassing normal security measures.

BTW Do you understand what legal precedent would be set by this case?

 

[HomuraDidNothinWrong]

LOL! Social engineering has no possibility of working...

Theres no back door involved. The court order basicly says "oi. Apple. Take this one phone to your lab. Put a custom firmware on this one phone. Turn remote access on for the fbi. The phone remains in your possession so the fbi can't get access to anything but the files on the phone. And we'll even pay you for your time "

What do you think the 'custom firmware' contains?

The FBI want Apple to produce a version of the phone firmware that has parts of the security system disabled.

Specifically the system that wipes all data from the phone after 10 incorrect passwords, allowing a brute force password attack.

That is the definition of a 'back door': a method, often secret, that allows access by bypassing normal security measures.

BTW Do you understand what legal precedent would be set by this case?

That's what the FBI WANTS. But what the court order requires is not that. The court order allows for Apple to take possession of the phone and break it themselves, without releasing a wide-spread break like the FBI wants.

 

[Rawbeard]

Petty criminals on the street can hack iPhones, but the FBI needs a backdoor? Jesus Christ...

 

[VaporWare]

So, while I agree in principle that this sort of thing is probably a bad idea, does John McAfee increasingly remind anyone else of Cave Johnson?