Enlarge (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Cellebrite, the Israel-based forensics company that has been a key source for law enforcement in efforts to crack the security of mobile devices to recover evidence, has reportedly found a way to unlock Apple devices using all versions of the iOS operating system up to version 11.2.6, the most recent update pushed out to customers by Apple. The capability is part of Cellebrite’s Advanced Unlocking and Extraction Services, a lab-based service the company provides to law enforcement agencies—not a software product.

But security experts are dubious of any claim that Cellebrite can defeat the encryption used by iOS to protect the contents of Apple devices. Rather, they suggest Cellebrite’s “Advanced Unlocking Services” may have found a way to bypass the limits on PIN or password entry enforced by interfering with the code that counts the number of failed attempts—allowing the company’s lab to launch a brute-force attack to try to discover the passcode without fear of the device erasing its cryptographic key and rendering the phone unreadable. With a sufficiently secure password, it would be nearly impossible for the technique to recover the contents of the device.

Forbes’ Thomas Fox-Brewster reports that a Cellebrite spokesperson confirmed the claim, first found in leaked Cellebrite marketing material, stating that “Cellebrite can retrieve (without needing to root or jailbreak the device) the full file system to recover downloaded emails, third-party application data, geolocation data and system logs. Agencies can either provide the device already unlocked, furnish the known passcode, or use Cellebrite’s Advanced Unlocking Services to unlock the device.”

Enlarge / Bill Gates answering questions on Reddit in 2013. (credit: Bill Gates)

Redditor Askur1337 asked Gates, “Whats your opinion on Crypto Currencies?” To this, Gates responded:

The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing. The government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. Right now crypto urrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs and cryptocurrencies is super risky for those who go long.

Redditor dikkepiemel followed up with a rebuttal that cryptocurrencies aren’t doing anything cash wasn’t already doing, saying, “The US dollar is also used to buy fentanyl and god knows what else.” Gates replied once more:

(credit: Courtesy of @SDSheriff)

According to a Wednesday statement released by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the unnamed 14-year-old boy posted a picture around 10pm Tuesday evening on Instagram with the message, “Don’t come to school tomorrow.” Another student asked him to take the image down, but he refused.

“It was learned he had access to hunting rifles,” the SDCSD wrote. “The investigation is ongoing to determine if this student has access to other weapons. He was booked into Juvenile Hall on a felony charge of making a criminal threat.”

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | sshepard)

The merger and fine are related. Straight Path held about 1,000 FCC spectrum licenses but failed to use them. Straight Path thus entered a settlement with the FCC requiring it “to sell its licenses and remit 20 percent of the overall proceeds of the transaction to the US Treasury,” the FCC said in its announcement today.

Verizon struck a deal to buy Straight Path in May 2017 for $3.1 billion and completed the acquisition today. Verizon and its new subsidiary were responsible for paying the $614.3 million, which “is the largest civil penalty ever paid to the US Treasury to resolve a Commission investigation,” the FCC said.

Enlarge / Teams looks good, but it’s unfortunate that its chat is quite bulky in a vertical direction. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft’s IRC-like, Slack-like collaboration tool Teams looks likely to pick up a couple of key features that will make it much more competitive.

The first of these is guest access. Currently on Teams, every person within a chat room must have an account in an organization’s Azure Active Directory. This makes working with outside collaborators awkward, as many of these may not have, and may not want, such an account. Guest access was announced last September, which would allow organizations to create Teams accounts using any email address rather than specifically requiring an Azure AD account; the feature is finally being rolled out next week. Organizations will have to explicitly enable it for their systems, but once they do, their Teams instance will support guest accounts.

The second big feature is freemium pricing. Slack has made great inroads by enticing organizations to use it for free, and once they’re hooked, getting them to pay for longer history and richer features. Teams is currently tied to Office 365; even with the guest access feature, there must be at least one paid Office 365 account to create an instance. However, it looks like this is set to change, and perhaps sooner rather than later. Brad Sams at Petri reported on signs that Microsoft is going to offer a freemium version, with a basic product available for free and paid upgrades to access further features. Indications are that freemium users will need a Microsoft Account to use the service, though what other restrictions will be applied is as yet unknown.