Exclusive: Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained - sources (5 minute read)
Two years ago, Apple dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt iCloud backups after the FBI complained the move would harm investigations. The company did not want to be attacked by public officials for protecting criminals, sued for moving data out of reach of government agencies, or used as an excuse for new legislation against encryption. Last week, US Attorney General William Barr called Apple to unlock two iPhones used by a Saudi Air Force officer who had shot and killed three Americans at a Florida naval base last month. President Donald Trump added pressure, accusing Apple of refusing to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers, and other violent criminal elements. Apple had provided the shooter's iCloud backups to law enforcement and rejected accusations that it had not provided substantive assistance. In the first half of last year, Apple provided full device backups or other iCloud content to US authorities for over 6,000 accounts for 1,568 cases. If Apple had continued plans to encrypt iCloud backups, it would not have been able to provide any data.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos's phone 'hacked by Saudi crown prince' (5 minute read)
Jeff Bezos’s phone was hacked in 2018 after receiving an infected video file sent from the personal WhatsApp account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Bezos and the prince were reportedly having a friendly chat on the app when the video file was sent, resulting in large amounts of data being exfiltrated from Bezos' phone within hours. The move indicates that the prince may have had personal involvement in targeting the world's richest man, raising concerns for westerners looking to invest in Saudi Arabia. A Washington Post journalist was killed five months after the hack, and some of Bezos' intimate details and text messages were published nine months after the hack. Saudi Arabia denies all involvement with the hack or the killing.