Apple Vs FBI: We tried to help the FBI but someone changed phone's iCloud password

[Steve Kinney]

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On 02/20/2016 02:08 PM, Rayzer wrote:

> Transliteration... The feds tampered with the phone and
> apparently fucked up their own investigation.

So according to this account, for reasons unknown the FBI violated
the most fundamental principles of digital forensics by failing to
make a complete backup of the stored content of the device before
doing anything else with or to it.  Then /also/ quite deliberately
destroyed its evidentiary value by delivering it into the custody
and control of some random idiot.

I find this narrative /very/ difficult to believe:

>> The idea was to force the iPhone 5C to auto-backup to
>> Farook’s iCloud account. With a legal court order, Apple
>> can and does turn over iCloud data. For some reason, Farook
>> had not backed up the phone for roughly six weeks prior to
>> the attack. The executive said Apple does not know whether
>> the auto-backup was disabled or enabled, but he did say that
>> the previous iCloud backups, which were handed over to 
>> investigators, were sporadic.
>> 
>> Apple suggested that the FBI take the iPhone 5C, plug it into
>> a wall, connect it to a known Wi-Fi network and leave it
>> overnight. The FBI took the phone to the San Bernardino
>> County Health Department, where Farook worked prior to the
>> December 2, 2015 attack.
>> 
>> When that attempt did not work, Apple was mystified, but soon
>> found out that the Apple ID account password had been changed
>> shortly after the phone was in the custody of law
>> enforcement, possibly by someone from the county health
>> department. With no way to enter the new password on the
>> locked phone, even attempting an auto-backup was impossible.
>> Had this iCloud auto-backup method actually functioned, Apple
>> would have been easily able to assist the FBI with its 
>> investigation.
>> 
>> The executive only revealed this detail to reporters now
>> because it had thought it was under a confidentiality
>> agreement with the government. Apple seems to believe this
>> agreement is now void since the government brought it up in a
>> public court filing.
>> 
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/apple-we-tried-to-help-
fbi-terror-probe-but-someone-changed-icloud-password/
>
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