justicedepartment
Latest
Attorney General asks Apple to unlock naval base shooter's iPhones
Attorney General William Barr has joined the FBI in asking Apple to unlock two iPhones belonging to the man who attacked a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, in December. Barr also declared the shooting "an act of terrorism." Apple has given investigators details from Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani's iCloud account, but it rejected a plea from the FBI to unlock the phones. The company has claimed complying with such a request could set a precedent that may compel it to unlock a device whenever a federal agency asks it to. The Justice Department wants access to Alshamrani's phones so it can view encrypted messages on apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. It's hoping to determine whether he was acting alone or if others knew of his plans. Barr noted that both phones were damaged in the attack, but said FBI crime lab experts were able to make them operational. The attorney general claimed at a press conference Monday Apple "has not given us any substantive assistance" when it came to unlocking the devices. "This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause," he said. "We call on Apple and other technology companies to help us find a solution so that we can better protect the lives of Americans and prevent future attacks."
Justice Department has approved T-Mobile / Sprint merger
Sprint and T-Mobile have cleared a significant hurdle towards completing their merger. The Department of Justice rubber-stamped the deal on the condition that the carriers sell some parts of the business to Dish Network.
Mueller report forced Congress to find PCs with disc drives
On top of redactions and other issues with the the Mueller report, Congress is facing a potential technological block. The document will be released to lawmakers, sometime between 11AM and noon ET today, on a ... CD, according to the Associated Press. Disc drives are becoming difficult to find, especially on Mac computers, but luckily the House judiciary staff was prepared. According to a tweet from CBS's Rebecca Kaplan, "they still have a computer with a working CD-ROM drive."
Appeals court upholds AT&T's purchase of Time Warner
AT&T doesn't have to worry that its acquisition of Time Warner might be undone. A federal appeals court has upheld the merger in the face of a Justice Department challenge from July. The explanation behind the decision isn't available as of this writing, but the judge who approved the deal didn't apply conditions. The DOJ was concerned AT&T might raise prices and reduce competition in pay TV by charging providers more for Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) programming.
DOJ report finds foreign meddling had no impact on midterm elections
If attempts at election meddling had any tangible effect on the US midterms, you won't hear about it from some officials. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have submitted a joint report to President Trump saying there was no evidence a foreign government or agency had a "material impact" on the infrastructures of the 2018 vote, including campaigns and political bodies. The actual conclusions are classified, but they're consistent with what the government said after the elections, the Justice Department said.
US will map and disrupt North Korean botnet
The US government plans to turn the tables on North Korea-linked hackers trying to compromise key infrastructure. The Justice Department has unveiled an initiative to map the Joanap botnet and "further disrupt" it by alerting victims. The FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations are running servers imitating peers on the botnet, giving them a peek at both technical and "limited" identifying info for other infected PCs. From there, they can map the botnet and send notifications through internet providers and foreign governments -- they'll even send personal notifications to people who don't have a router or firewall protecting their systems.
Huawei denies US sanctions and trade secret charges
Huawei isn't taking kindly to the US' charges of sanction violations and trade secret theft. A spokesperson told Engadget the company was "disappointed" to hear of the charges and flatly "denies" it or an associated company (namely Skycom) committed any of the crimes in the indictments. It's also "not aware of any wrongdoing" by CFO Meng Wanzhou, according to the statement (available below). Huawei went so far as to suggest the US was unfair and trying to revive a dead case.
US reportedly investigates Huawei for allegedly stealing trade secrets
Huawei and the US government have been at odds for months now, and it looks like things are about to get far more severe. The Wall Street Journal reports that US federal prosecutors are working on a criminal investigation into Huawei for stealing trade secrets from companies it has partnered with here in the states. Specifcally the Journal says that Huawei allegedly stole technology for a smartphone testing device called "Tappy" from T-Mobile. An indictment is expected soon, but as of now the investigation is formally unannounced and charges have yet to be filed.
Fiat Chrysler settles with US over diesel emissions cheating
Fiat Chrysler is about to pay a stiff penalty for its alleged diesel vehicle emissions cheating. The automaker has reached a settlement with the Justice Department, EPA and California that will see it make amends for claimed violations of the country's Clean Air Act. It's launching a recall to fix the more than 100,000 diesel vehicles believed to be exceeding pollution limits. More importantly, there's a hefty financial punishment. Fiat Chrysler will pay as much as $800 million to address the case, including a combined $311 million in civil penalties, up to $280 million to address claims from owners (who get an average of $2,800 each) and $100 million for post-fix extended warranties.
FBI shuts down 15 DDoS-for-hire sites
Federal law enforcement appears determined to prevent the distributed denial of service attacks that have ruined the holidays of gamers (and others) in the past. The FBI has seized the domains of 15 DDoS-for-hire services, including relatively well-known examples like Downthem and Quantum Stresser. It simultaneously charged three people operating these sites. Matthew Gatrel and Juan Martinez face charges for allegedly conspiring to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for running Downthem and Ampnode, while David Bukowski has been accused of aiding and abetting computer intrusion for running Quantum Stresser.
Justice Department investigates fake net neutrality comments
The scrutiny over fake net neutrality comments appears to be intensifying. Sources talking to BuzzFeed News said the Justice Department is investigating whether or not there were crimes when people posted millions of bogus comments on the FCC's net neutrality repeal, stealing many people's identities in the process. The FBI reportedly subpoenaed at least two organizations for information "a few days" after New York state did for its own investigation, according to the insiders.
US government accuses Chinese hackers of stealing jet engine IP
The Justice Department has charged ten Chinese nationals -- two of which are intelligence officers -- of hacking into and stealing intellectual property from a pair of unnamed US and French companies between January 2015 to at least May of 2015. The hackers were after a type of turbofan (portmanteau of turbine and fan), a large commercial airline engine, to either circumvent its own development costs or avoid having to buy it. According to the complaint by the Department of Justice, a Chinese aerospace manufacturer was simultaneously working on making a comparable engine. The hack afflicted unnamed aerospace companies located in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Justice Department antitrust head says big tech isn’t necessarily bad
Earlier this week, after Facebook and Twitter executives testified before Congress about misinformation, election meddling and content monitoring, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he would be meeting with state AGs about social networks "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas." The talks will also address concerns over anti-competitiveness among big tech companies. But now, Makan Delrahim, the Justice Department's antitrust division head, has put those competition concerns into some context.
DOJ decides it should publicly 'expose' foreign election schemes
If the US Justice Department stays true to its new policy, we'll hear about foreign cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns targeting the country's democracy straight from its office. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein (above) has announced at the Aspen Security Forum that under the new policy, the DOJ will inform American corporations, organizations and even individuals if they're being targeted by foreign operations in an attempt to influence the country's elections. "Exposing schemes to the public is an important way to neutralize them," he explained, less than a week after the DOJ indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking Democrats leading up to the 2016 Presidential Elections. He added: "The American people have a right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda."
Justice Department appeals approval of Time Warner-AT&T merger
Just when we thought the AT&T--Time Warner merger was finally a done deal after a district court judge ruled in its favor last month, it seems not everyone wants to accept its terms. The Justice Department has filed to appeal the approval, according to a court document spotted by CNBC, which could reverse the deal if the DOJ wins.
DOJ: FBI prematurely took Apple to court over San Bernardino iPhone
In 2016, the debate over whether manufacturers should aid law enforcement officials in unlocking criminals' phones became very heated as the FBI took Apple to court over its refusal to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. At the time, the agency said Apple was its only shot at getting access to whatever was stored on Syed Farook's iPhone 5c but it later used an outside vendor to crack the phone and get to its data. Now, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General has released a report that says the FBI didn't do everything it could to find a solution before seeking a court order against Apple.
DOJ renews push to require access to encrypted devices
No, US law enforcement hasn't given up on its dreams of forcing tech companies to allow access to encrypted devices. New York Times sources have learned that the Department of Justice and the FBI have been meeting with security researchers in an effort to develop systems that would let police reach encrypted data without making them vulnerable to hacking. At the same time, officials have reportedly renewed talks about asking Congress to draft and pass legislation requiring the use of those mechanisms. The White House circulated a memo in February giving agencies ways to consider "solving the problem," according to the news outlet.
Supreme Court to decide if cellphone location data requires a warrant
The ongoing battle between mobile technology and law enforcement is headed to the Supreme Court. Next term, the justices will decide whether a warrant is required for police to track a suspect through their cellphone records.
US sues Fiat Chrysler over diesel emissions cheating
Volkswagen definitely won't be the only major automaker hauled into court for cheating on diesel emissions tests in recent years. In the wake of EPA accusations from January, the US Department of Justice has sued Fiat Chrysler for allegedly using a combination of defeat devices and software to trick regulators into thinking its 3.0-liter EcoDiesel engines are... well, eco-friendly. Reportedly, 2014-2016 model year Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles (104,000 in total) violated the Clean Air Act by meeting emissions rules in EPA testing, but spewing "much higher" nitrogen oxide levels in certain everyday driving situations.
'FIFA' hackers guilty of 'mining' $16 million from EA
We tend to think of 'wire fraud' as a white collar crime perpetrated against a banking institution, but in a world with virtual currencies and online marketplace, the reality can be a bit more complex. Take the case of Anthony Clark, a 24-year-old man from Whittier, CA, who was found guilty of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He didn't defraud a major US bank -- he and three others mined $16 million worth of FIFA Coins from EA Sports' popular series of soccer games.
