FBI claims 6,900 encrypted smartphones hindered investigations this year

In the past eleven months, the FBI ran into the encryption of 6900 smartphones during judicial investigations, the US government service claims. Numerous different investigations would be hampered because the contents of the devices remained inaccessible.

More than half of the seized mobile devices are involved, FBI chief Christopher Wray said in a speech, according to The Washington Times. The FBI is thus repeating a claim made at the beginning of this year. Then the investigative service said that 3,000 mobile devices seized in six months had no content due to encryption.

According to the FBI, this impacts a wide range of investigations into counter-narcotics, human trafficking, terrorism, gangs, organized crime and child abuse. “To put it mildly, it’s a huge problem,” Wray said. The most famous example where encryption led to problems was with the encrypted iPhone 5c of the San Bernardino attacker. The FBI and Apple argued for months over the decryption.

Authorities in many countries have been complaining for some time about the increasing use of encryption, which would ensure that intelligence services and investigative organizations are increasingly in the dark about, among other things, the communication of suspects. At the same time, countries are hesitant to argue in favor of building in encryption vulnerabilities because of the risks of misuse. Last week, the European Commission called for the pooling and sharing of knowledge on how to circumvent encryption, so that member states can help each other.