Article

2020-05-19 Home Front: WoT

FBI Gets Into Pensacola Shooter's iPhone, Finds an Al-Qaeda Tie

[Bloomberg] The FBI was able to unlock encrypted iPhones belonging to the shooter in December’s attack at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, and discovered he had contact with a suspected al-Qaeda operative, Attorney General William Barr said Monday.

The alleged link to al-Qaeda is also significant because it suggests the terrorist organization is still able to encourage, and possibly direct, operations in the U.S. almost two decades after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The Trump administration asked Apple in January for help unlocking a pair of iPhones belonging to the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani,

...also in our archives as Muhammad bin Saeed Al-Shamrani ...

a 21-year-old 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Alshamrani was killed by law enforcement responding to the attack.

Barr previously said the shooting rampage that killed three sailors was an act of terrorism. The attack frayed U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, which removed 21 of its cadets from military training in the U.S. in response.

Alshamrani and his associates in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula “communicated using end-to-end encrypted apps, with warrant-proof encryption, deliberately in order to evade law enforcement,” Barr said in a statement Monday. “Alshamrani’s preparations for terror began years ago. He had been radicalized by 2015, and having connected and associated with AQAP operatives, joined the Royal Saudi Air Force in order to carry out a ‘special operation.’”

After accessing evidence on the phone, the U.S. recently carried out a counterterrorism operation targeting an overseas al-Qaeda operative that Alshamrani associated with, Barr and Wray said. However, the officials stopped short of asserting that al-Qaeda directed the Pensacola attack.

The attorney general said that Alshamrani viewed the data on one of his iPhones as so valuable that he interrupted his rampage to fire a bullet into it.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2020-05-19 03:10|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top
File under: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

#1 Would be interesting to know whether US intelligence actually hacked, Apple caved, or US gave up and paid another intelligence agency for the hack.

Posted by Airandee 2020-05-19 05:58|| 2020-05-19 05:58|| Front Page Top

#2 I seem to recall that Israel helped, Airandee.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-05-19 06:29|| 2020-05-19 06:29|| Front Page Top

#3 Apple refused, we're told, even with a warrant. Now their cooperation is unnecessary

Posted by Frank G 2020-05-19 08:59|| 2020-05-19 08:59|| Front Page Top

#4 When you have physical access to the device, avenues of attack to obtain data are limited only by time, money and engineering resources. Apple knows this and their refusal to cooperate with LE is really all they've got when they claim they are "privacy oriented." If I had data I didn't want anyone to see, I'd never keep it on a device someone else might seize from me. Additionally, wherever I sent it, I'd have to assume the recipient also is vulnerable or maybe even already compromised.

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-05-19 08:59|| 2020-05-19 08:59|| Front Page Top

#5 Also, these jihad jibones are all about sharing what they are up to with their like-minded "brothers." I'd imagine it's a parlor game for NSA analysts to look at recovered data from a case like this and say "Aha! We gathered that stuff from intercepted emails (texts, etc.) the day it was sent. We beat you again."

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-05-19 09:08|| 2020-05-19 09:08|| Front Page Top

#6 U.S. carried out strike on Pensacola shooter's al Qaeda contact in Yemen after the FBI broke through encryption on his iPhones
Information found on Mohammed Alshamrani's iPhones was used to conduct a counter-terrorism strike against Abdullah al-Maliki

Al-Maliki was identified as a member of al Qaeda's branch in Yemen, AQAP

Attorney General Bill Barr announced the strike at news conference on Monday

He did not say if al-Maliki was killed or when the strike took place

Barr slammed Apple for refusing to help the FBI access the encrypted phones

But Apple claims it provided 'every piece of information available to us'

'The false claims are an excuse to weaken encryption and other security measures that protect millions of users and national security,' Apple said

The company insists that it is unable to create a 'backdoor' for law enforcement without compromising security entirely

Posted by Elmath Thuter1871 2020-05-19 12:18|| 2020-05-19 12:18|| Front Page Top

#7 The company insists that it is unable to create a 'backdoor' for law enforcement without compromising security entirely

Given how much government 'leaked' during Obamagate, valid statement.

Posted by Procopius2k 2020-05-19 16:30|| 2020-05-19 16:30|| Front Page Top

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