The domestic intelligence and security service of the United States,FBI failed to gain access to around 7,000 encrypted mobile devices In an 11-month period, BBC News reports, which is approximately half of those targeted by the agency according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. In a speech given at the Association of Chiefs of Police conference yesterday, he said that device encryption was "a huge, huge problem," for the agency
The FBI disclosed after Apple following the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack as it sought access to the shooter's locked iPhone 5c -- a request that Apple staunchly refused. It eventually got around the issue by paying an $900,000 undisclosed vendor for granting access to the shooter's phone. However that wasn't the first time the FBI said a thing about encrypted smartphones, In 2014, then Director James Comey said that secure communications could lead to "a very dark place" and called on Congress to change the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act accordingly.
Wray said , "I get it, there's a balance that needs to be struck between encryption and the importance of giving us the tools we need to keep the public safe." As cybersecurity expert Alan Woodward told BBC News "Encryption that frustrates forensic investigations will be a fact of life from now on for law enforcement agencies,Even if the equipment manufacturers didn't build in such encryption it would be possible to obtain software that encrypted data in the same way."