Apple iPhone encryption causing police backlog

 

Apple's iPhone has proven a hit with the general public, but the company's strong security protections are making the device less than popular with law enforcement agencies.

It seems that the encryption on the handset is proving to be so hard for authorities to crack that they have to petition Apple to manually unlock the handset by manually overriding the security controls and decrypting data needed for criminal prosecution.

Unfortunately, the iPhone is a major hit with the consumer market, a market which happens to include those who run afoul of the law. As such, there are so many police asking for iPhone decryption that Apple has found itself with a backlog of requests.

According to Cnet, law enforcement officials are being told that they will have to wait as long as two months to gain access to iPhone units connected to criminal investigations.
This is not the first time Apple's security protections have caught the eye of law enfrocement agencies. Earlier this year the US Drug Enforcement Agency issued a warning to agents that messages delivered over Apple's Messages App, which sends data over secured HTTP connections, was all but impossible to eavesdrop in in the course of investigations.

The issue rehashes an ongoing battle that has erupted between the need for law enforcement agencies to access data and the right for users to have their data protected from intrusion. Apple is not alone in being caught up in the crossfire. Blackberry has found itself in the crosshairs of government authorities over its strong security protections which can prevent government eavesdropping.