The Verge reported this week about the year-end-report published by the House Judiciary Committee’s Encryption Working Group.  Apple and other tech companies will be pleased with the report. It acknowledges requiring a backdoor to assist law enforcement would weaken overall security. Law enforcement officials have maintained they need a backdoor to allow them to get into encrypted devices. Apple maintained a backdoor would ultimately get into the hands of the bad guys and make security weaker.

It is easy to be sympathetic to law enforcement. The Manhattan DA, Cy Vance, said his office has confiscated more than 400 locked iOS devices which they cannot break into because of Apple’s encryption feature. The most prominent example of the problem is San Bernardino.  

The pressure to give law enforcement is intense, but tech companies, and I agree, believe making it easier for law enforcement to break the encryption would ultimately make it easier for the bad guys too. The worst thing which could happen would be for politicians looking for easy solutions to pass an uninformed bill. Law enforcement must now focus on developing strategies to find the bad guys and learn what they are planning. It is a difficult task, but the alternative would weaken our security. See the full story at Congressional group says backdoor laws would do more harm than good – The Verge