A lot of people own Apple’s iPhone, iPad and other phones. Unfortunately the odds are good that some of those people are criminals. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t prove to be a problem save for the seemingly impenetrable Apple iOS security software that prevents police and federal law enforcement officers from gaining access to a criminals’ phone and personal devices. Criminals, like most people who use these modern devices, add contacts, emails, messages from their sources, pictures and GPS information on the places the criminal suspect has been.

Decrypting the security on a criminals’ Apple phone or personal device has become a serious problem for law enforcement. But the iSO security has proven so tough that even the most skilled computer forensics experts have trouble accessing information that could provide key evidence that could be used to prosecute these criminals. It seems that the only ones capable of decrypting an Apple device are the experts at Apple. In fact, Apple has gotten so many requests to aid Police that there is a waiting list of cases from police agencies, the ATF, and Federal Bureaus for cases involving suspects that use Apple products.

One federal agent with the ATF, Rob Maynard attempted for three months to find anyone with the ability to unlock an iPhone 4S, after consulting with several forensic experts he finally went to Apple. Apple can apparently maneuver around the lock and get all the data downloaded to another device. It is that device that the Apple experts give to the authorities.

How Apple succeeds at penetrating the impenetrable is not clear. Some speculate that Apple has created a ‘backdoor’ through which they can get into someone’s phone. It is in Apple’s privacy policy that they will not reveal personal information stored on a customer’s device, unless a request is made by law enforcement or legal process. While most Apple customers don’t have to worry about outsiders gaining access to their phone, criminals are put on notice that Apple will and does provide access to their devices when requested by the authorities.

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