Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption 'urgent public safety issue'

Reprints
FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption 'urgent public safety issue'

(Reuters) — The inability of law enforcement authorities to access data from electronic devices due to powerful encryption is an "urgent public safety issue," FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday in remarks that sought to renew a contentious debate over privacy and security.

The FBI was unable to access data from nearly 7,800 devices in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 with technical tools despite possessing proper legal authority to pry them open, a growing figure that impacts every area of the agency's work, Mr. Wray said during a speech at a cyber security conference in New York.

"This is an urgent public safety issue," Mr. Wray added, while saying that a solution is "not so clear cut."

Technology companies and many digital security experts have said that the FBI's attempts to require that devices allow investigators a way to access a criminal suspect's cellphone would harm internet security and empower malicious hackers.

The comments at the International Conference on Cyber Security were among Wray's first extensive remarks about encryption, which the FBI and local law enforcement for years has said bedevils countless investigations. Mr. Wray took over as FBI chief in August.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Next

  • Small firms hit by a cyber attack go out of business

    Research has found that 60% of small firms that experienced a cyber attack went out of business within six months in Australia, Daily Liberal reported. "Surveys have shown that 87% of small businesses believe antivirus software alone is enough to keep them safe," said Kate Carnell, an official at the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.