Shooter's iPhone Could Harbor 'Dormant Cyber Pathogen', Claims San Bernardino DA

[Frazzle]

What if they find that the phone actually contains some pics of nothing important, a few grocery lists and several e-mail attempts to end a comcast subscription? I bet we'll hear nothing more about it, because top secret.

 

[Quu]

This guy clearly does not know anything about the iPhone or computing in general. Very out of touch.

I'm a software developer and the chances of what he says being even remotely true are about -2 Trillion. I've also never heard the saying software pathogen before.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Michael Ramos's brain is lying dormant.

 

[demodave]

The iPhone at the center of the ongoing encryption dispute between Apple and the FBI may contain a "dormant cyber pathogen", according to the San Bernardino county District Attorney.

I think the world desperately needs an internet meme equivalent to the Darwin Awards.

To many of the other comments of Macrumors more astute readers, I have to strongly say: "This!"

 

[CFreymarc]

Grasping for straws.

 

[MH01]

This is just like watching all those TV series on TV where the government agencies talk tech ...... A combination of really cool sounding words that mean nothing....

I need more popcorn....

 

[rdlink]

Ah, the desperation of knowing that the law, and now public opinion is not on your side...

 

[Shanghaichica]

Considering I can't download a word file to my iPhone I don't know how he would get a "cyber pathogen" on there

Well if he jail broke it he could have gotten it on there. However if it's jail broken then fbi don't need Apple to help them break into it.

 

[lowendlinux]

Umm, yea, uh huh

 

[teslo]

yeah, well, the terrorists' toaster had WW2 nazi souls haunting it, yet no one contacted black n decker about asking that. clearly, this is a conspiracy against apple.

 

[ParanoidDroid]

Cyber pathogen? Omg, then all the people who were frequently visiting chatrooms in the 90's have it too!

They might be contagious and could affect public infrastructure.

 

[Glideslope]

"dormant cyber pathogen" Please, go crawl back in your hole.

 

[jamezr]

These guys.......and lets speculate that is has the secret to never aging. Oh and it has the location of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and it knows where Jimmy Hoffa is buried.

The curious claim appears in an amicus brief filed by Michael Ramos with a California court on Thursday. In the document, Ramos speculates that the iPhone used by terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook "may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino's infrastructure."

Then keep the phone turned off!

 

[AndyUnderscoreR]

"Dormant Cyber Pathogen"? I think they were the support act for Crystal Method's 2007 tour?

 

[Sketchr]

FBI, just do your job, please.

 

[robertcoogan]

Riiiiiiiiiiight. "Pathogen." Okay.

 

[FieldingMellish]

It had to have been an element taken from 2011’s movie, Contagion.

 

[8692574]

May contain? I mean is this how the US works ... the next law is to base decision on what IF???

IF I was an Apple lawyer I would answer that it might not!

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

If this is the case, shouldn't they have their top men on this?

 

[997440]

...."It sounds like he's making up these terms as he goes," said iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski, speaking to Ars Technica about the filing. "We've never used these terms in computer science." Zdziarski believes that the amicus is simply designed to mislead the courts and manipulate a decision in the FBI's favor....

Maybe it can be determined that the DA is otherwise full of baloney but the term 'cyber pathogen' isn't new, if not widely used. It's an extension of the infectious disease analogy.

For instance:

....Like infectious diseases, cyber threats will never be eliminated entirely, but they can be better contained and understood, and their effects minimized. How can this be achieved? IBM has built an enterprise-level “immune system,” an adaptive security architecture to battle today’s cyber pathogens....

https://securityintelligence.com/events/4-ways-to-build-your-immunity-to-cyber-threats/

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

May contain? I mean is this how the US works ... the next law is to base decision on what IF???

IF I was an Apple lawyer I would answer that it might not!

It is how the US works...
See:
Drug laws (You may injure yourself...)
Speed Limits on freeways (You might get into a crash...)
Patriot Act (We have to monitor everyone, so we can catch that one bad guy...)
ad infinitum

 

[8692574]

It is how the US works...
See:
Drug laws (You may injure yourself...)
Speed Limits on freeways (You might get into a crash...)
Patriot Act (We have to monitor everyone, so we can catch that one bad guy...)
ad infinitum

It may be why they deserve Trump!

 

[FriednTested]

You mean like how there were WMD's in Iraq. And they had to attack it against the verdict of the UN. Too bad Apple isn't a puppet like the UN.

 

[pwhitehead]

This isn't a windows and/or android phone pal, its an iPhone. iPhones don't get malware, silly rabbit! lols!

 

[AppleNewton]

the lengths being made here to triumph over protecting everyones best interests and privacy and rights. besides what was the size of this iPhone...a 5C, maybe 16GB? yeah theres nothing on there ;p