The terror attacks in Paris earlier this month have brought the issue of encryption into sharper focus. And, though various tech giants have resisted pressure to permit “backdoors” for government use, consumer technology can still play a major part in assisting the anti-terror fight.
In fact, maintaining, not loosening, encryption could prove surprisingly vital. The Information Technology Industry Council, which counts Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook among its members, this week publicly warned that “weakening encryption or creating backdoors to encrypted devices and data for use by the good guys would actually create vulnerabilities to be exploited by the bad guys”.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had already, at last month’s WSJD Live conference, insisted on the impossibility of “a backdoor that’s only for the good guys”. There are many other ways in which our smartphones and tablets could serve as potent weapons against terror; we elaborate much further in the current issue of AppleMagazine. Your on-screen copy awaits on our free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
