The Encrypted Clue
Agent Skinner knew that Yoo Jae-won was aware of the situation. Naturally, the first place he had knocked on to unlock the iPhone S was Apple’s door. The answer he received was absurd.
“Mr. Jobs at Apple said that if the dedicated encryption chip is damaged, even they wouldn’t be able to recover it.”
“I see.”
Yoo Jae-won nodded at Agent Skinner’s reply. The photo presented as the suspect’s phone also showed the back of the iPhone S. In the image, the phone looked severely burned, with its base exposed, and some of the chips had melted in the fire. He had clearly seen it plunge into the Hudson River. Water must have flooded the plane, so where had the intense heat come from that melted the back like that?
“Fortunately, the NAND flash memory chip where the data is stored is intact. So we removed only the NAND flash memory chip and transplanted it into a normal iPhone S board.”
It was a reasonable approach. It was like removing the hard disk from a broken computer and installing it in a working one. The problem was that the entire hard disk was encrypted.
Yoo Jae-won had also understood the security structure of the iPhone S after reviewing the reverse engineering report. All user data on the flash memory chip was encrypted and stored by the encryption chip, and the encryption method was very similar to the AES method he had announced.
“According to President Steve Jobs, the only thing Apple can do in the current situation is to reset the counting when the number of errors is exceeded.”
There was a tone in Agent Skinner’s voice that suggested he believed President Steve Jobs could unlock it but was deliberately refusing to do so. In the past, Apple had refused the FBI’s request to unlock a criminal suspect’s phone to protect customers’ personal information. Could they really do the same now? This was the iPhone S of a prime suspect in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Unlike previous FBI cases, there was a 99.99% certainty that he was the culprit. The entire American public was enraged. The flames of anger burned so fiercely that even terrorist groups and North Korea were issuing statements of condolence and denying any involvement.
Refusing a request for cooperation under the pretext of protecting personal information in such a situation? In the FBI case, it had been a good opportunity to promote enhanced security and ethical awareness, but would President Steve Jobs really try to exploit even this incident? Yoo Jae-won found it difficult to judge quickly, as the man’s way of thinking was quite unique.
Was it really because the dedicated encryption chip was destroyed? If the chip had been intact, Apple would have given a more positive response. After all, the dedicated encryption chip was not only responsible for fast encryption but also contained a small storage area that held the user’s password. If they had a separate master key, they could have quickly inferred the user’s password, but the iPhone S encryption method used only the user’s password.
In the end, Yoo Jae-won’s conclusion was that he still didn’t know. This was completely different from Agent Skinner’s judgment. The cynical man believed that Apple was trying to benefit itself by passively helping with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He said they wanted to appeal to security-conscious consumers by earning the title of an iPhone that even the Joint Investigation Headquarters’ task force couldn’t crack.
“I doubt it.”
On the other hand, Yoo Jae-won believed that even the great Steve Jobs wouldn’t use the 9/11 attacks to promote the iPhone S. Therefore, he thought there must be another reason why Apple was having difficulty cooperating actively.
“So you’re saying the same thing as Apple, Chairman?”
Agent Skinner’s voice grew noticeably stiffer at Yoo Jae-won’s explanation. The suspect’s iPhone was a crucial clue they had barely managed to find. He had thought that even without Apple’s passive help, Yoo Jae-won would be able to unlock it. But if Yoo Jae-won also refused to cooperate, it would be the worst-case scenario. They might not be able to access the contents of the iPhone at all.
“I’ll cooperate if you promise me a few things.”
Yoo Jae-won replied with a slight smile. While he had many thoughts about personal information protection, he knew that in special situations like this, flexibility was necessary. Moreover, Yoo Jae-won had been waiting for a moment to reveal his presence, and Agent Skinner’s request for help was perfectly timed.
“Just say the word.”
At Agent Skinner’s words, Yoo Jae-won began listing his demands. He had already thought them through, so very specific details poured out of his mouth. To give just a few examples: since he would have to engage in the illegal act of hacking the iPhone S, he wanted immunity for that, the right to participate in tracing clues that emerged after a successful hack, and finally, the opportunity to personally announce these achievements to the person in charge.
“Those are all reasonable requests.”
Fortunately, Agent Skinner accepted all of Yoo Jae-won’s demands.
“I’ll need a paper from the Attorney General.”
Agent Skinner even called the Attorney General on the spot and personally conveyed Yoo Jae-won’s requirements.
“You have a direct line to the Attorney General.”
“It’s an emergency situation.”
Agent Skinner gave a short reply to Yoo Jae-won’s admiration.
“Then let’s get started. Show me the device.”
To begin work immediately, Yoo Jae-won requested the suspect’s iPhone S. For the first time, a troubled expression appeared on Agent Skinner’s face.
“The suspect’s iPhone is at the New York headquarters. Let’s go together.”
The Joint Investigation Headquarters couldn’t afford to waste time traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast. They had dispatched Agent Skinner here to request cooperation while separately working on hacking the suspect’s iPhone S.
“Ah, I see. Then let’s go right away. Every minute and second counts.”
Yoo Jae-won and Agent Skinner headed straight to the airport. He had accurately informed the company of the reason for his departure. He also tried to contact Tiffany, but since she was apparently in flight, the call didn’t go through, so he sent a message via ID Talk. Agent Skinner had arranged for him to bring one attendant, so Kim Dae-seok was traveling with him again.
Six hours later.
Yoo Jae-won arrived at New York’s JFK Airport.
Ding ding!
His Android Phone, which had reconnected with ground base stations, sounded a loud alarm as it received delayed information. Following Agent Skinner, Yoo Jae-won quickly checked the alarms that had appeared on his Android Phone. He skimmed over the reports from the company, but there were quite a few messages he couldn’t ignore. There was a message from his parents in Deokjin-ri checking in on him, and a message from Tiffany, who had departed for Washington D.C. earlier.
Tiffany’s message in particular couldn’t be ignored. Tiffany and Frederick, who had arrived at a hospital in Washington D.C., had confirmed Jacob’s death at the morgue. When they had rushed to Washington D.C., they had thought it couldn’t be true. After all, Jacob’s usual habit was to claim he was going on business trips when he was actually going somewhere completely different. Thanks to that, there had been a faint hope that this might be the case again. They had expected that after saying he was going on a business trip to Washington D.C., he would actually be at some famous club. But the person in the morgue was indeed Jacob. He had been trying to meet with a Texas state senator to handle complaints regarding Chevron’s new business. Upon hearing this, Frederick had burst into tears. Frederick had always compared Jacob to Yoo Jae-won, hoping he would come to his senses. Jacob, who had finally matured a bit, had begun to live up to Frederick’s expectations by taking steps befitting Chevron’s successor. The truly tragic part was that Jacob had been caught up in the massive upheaval of the 9/11 attacks.
Yoo Jae-won immediately called Tiffany.
“Tiffany! Are you okay?”
— Yeah, I’m doing relatively better, but I’m worried about Grandpa.
The call connected before the phone even rang once. Tiffany’s voice was filled with tears. Although she hadn’t been on good terms with Jacob, he was still family, so the grief of loss must have been great. Of course, the biggest shock would be to Frederick, who had lost his son.
“So it’s just the two of you there?”
— Ah, there are some Chevron executives who arrived earlier. More will keep coming. Mom, Dad, and my aunts will all gather today.
“Ah, I’m in New York too.”
— You too?
“The 9/11 Joint Investigation Headquarters urgently requested my help. I’ll come right over as soon as I’m done here.”
— Ah, okay. Let me know if anything happens. I’ll contact you right away too. Love you!
“I… I love you too.”
The call with Tiffany ended like that.
“Was Jacob the successor to Chevron?”
At Agent Skinner’s question, Yoo Jae-won nodded. Since he had been sitting next to him, Agent Skinner must have heard even the quiet conversation, but Yoo Jae-won’s voice had naturally risen while comforting Tiffany. Thanks to that, Agent Skinner had heard everything and learned of Jacob’s death as well.
“Damn Al-Qaeda.”
When Yoo Jae-won nodded, Agent Skinner couldn’t help but curse. The number of people sacrificed in 9/11 was increasing over time. Even the Capitol had been hit, with casualties among senators, and now Chevron’s successor was among the dead. While everyone was currently preoccupied with dealing with the aftermath, once all the post-processing was complete, a large-scale retaliatory operation would be launched. With so many senators and even Chevron’s successor dead, Skinner couldn’t even imagine the scale of it.
“Let’s hurry.”
Yoo Jae-won was equally anxious. Tiffany was different from ordinary Americans who easily said “I love you.” That was why Yoo Jae-won had been surprised by her words of love. While it made him happy, his concern also grew. It meant Tiffany was under immense psychological pressure. Yoo Jae-won resolved to finish hacking the iPhone S as quickly as possible and go to Tiffany.
A little later, Yoo Jae-won arrived at the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The 9/11 Joint Investigation Headquarters was located in the South Tower. When he passed by the North Tower, which had already collapsed into a horrific state, he couldn’t help but sigh. The emotional impact of seeing it with his own eyes was on a completely different level from watching it on television. Since the search for survivors was in full swing, countless people were moving around on the rubble like ants. The lobby and first, second, and third floors of the partially destroyed South Tower of the World Trade Center were like a marketplace. All the people who normally worked there had evacuated, and those dispatched to the Joint Investigation Headquarters had taken their places. Since there were no assigned seats and people simply made their own upon arrival, it was truly chaotic. Strangely enough, there was some order amidst the tremendous confusion. People gathered by their organizations of origin, and as a vertical hierarchy was established, the work gained some structure.
Agent Skinner’s Advanced Technology Analysis Team was located in the deepest part of the third floor. This was because their very existence was classified.
“Report everything you’ve found so far.”
After gathering his team members and introducing Yoo Jae-won, Agent Skinner received reports on what had been handled during his absence. Yoo Jae-won stood beside him as well. Thanks to this, even as an outsider, Yoo Jae-won could immediately see how far the Advanced Technology Analysis Team had progressed.
— Confirmed phone number registered on the USIM.
— Confirmed call records and Apple ID through the phone number.
— Confirmed applications installed on the iPhone S through the Apple ID.
— Confirmed call logs and text messages spanning nearly three months from the call records.
The team members’ reports continued. As expected from a task force of capable individuals, they had prepared considerable information from just the suspect’s iPhone S. The problem was the lack of decisive clues. While call records and text content stored on the carrier’s servers were important, neither the texts nor calls contained any useful information. The usage time was quite long, but there weren’t many calls or texts, which strongly suggested the use of a separate messenger program installed on the iPhone S. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be ID Talk. There was no record of accessing ID Talk with the suspect’s Apple ID. There was also no record of installing ID Talk in the Apple App Store records. In the end, they would need to break through the iPhone S’s encryption system to find proper information.
“Shall we get started then?”
Yoo Jae-won sat down at the assigned seat. Naturally, he was given the highest-performance computer among those owned by the Advanced Technology Analysis Team. Moreover, it was already connected to the iPhone with the NAND flash memory extracted from the suspect’s iPhone S transplanted into it. After lightly warming up by shaking his hands, the first thing Yoo Jae-won did was launch the ID Web Browser. The team members of the Advanced Technology Analysis Team, who had expected some ingenious technology to shatter Apple’s encryption system, looked puzzled when he suddenly launched a web browser. Ignoring their reactions, Yoo Jae-won checked the computer’s security status, confirmed there were no issues, and then typed a series of numbers into the ID Web Browser’s address bar. Yoo Jae-won had memorized IP addresses without needing URLs, and the numbers he entered led to the management page of ID Group’s New York City data center. After entering the administrator ID and password, a ding notification sounded from his Android Phone. It was an authentication text sent by the system. After checking and re-entering the authentication code, the web page’s composition changed dramatically, and a command line input window appeared. Preparations were complete to directly operate the New York data center remotely.
“Chairman Yoo, can you break Apple’s encryption system with this?”
Since everyone was confused, Agent Skinner asked on their behalf.
“Yes. I’ll break through with a frontal assault in the shortest time possible.”
“A frontal assault?”
After finishing his words, Yoo Jae-won immediately began working. The method Yoo Jae-won chose was a rainbow table. A rainbow table was a chart that stored large amounts of values created through encryption. Apple converted the user’s password using a hash function and stored it, and they had already found the Apple ID using the secured phone number, and through the Apple ID, they had also obtained the hash function value of the suspect’s converted password. The problem was that there was no way to infer the original password from the hash value. However, since they knew the conversion method, if they extracted hash values for all possible cases, they could find a matching value and determine the original password.
Creating a proper rainbow table required enormous time and storage capacity, but by mobilizing ID Group’s data centers, they could accomplish it in an instant. Another advantage was that there was no need to hold the iPhone S and input passwords one by one. If the password was entered incorrectly ten times, the iPhone S would become a brick, and to unlock it, one would have to go through the trouble of entering an administrative key again. With a rainbow table, all keys could be created and verified within the data center, so there was no need to worry about exceeding the input limit.
Even while explaining, Yoo Jae-won didn’t stop programming.
“I’m starting.”
Having completed the creation and verification in an instant, Yoo Jae-won immediately pressed the Enter key to run the program.