FBI: Using Third-Parties To Break Encryption Not Solution
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami/AP) — A senior FBI official is speaking out against third parties helping the FBI hack into locked iPhones saying it's not a solution.
Amy Hess, executive assistant director of the FBI's science and technology branch, was asked at a congressional hearing about the Justice Department's decision to use an unidentified outside contractor to break into a phone used by one of the San Bernardino, California attackers. That branch oversees the use of surveillance technologies.
She says those kinds of decisions are made case-by-case, but that relying outside entities to exploit vulnerabilities isn't the solution.
She said the FBI relied on a third party because the work requires highly specialized resources that the agency doesn't have readily available on its own.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
