How a passcode has foiled the FBI

Four numbers hardly seem like a foolproof way to protect a smartphone.

But that’s likely what has stumped federal law enforcement, who have been unable to break into the iPhone 5C used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. That has led to a standoff between Apple and the FBI over the right to access the device’s contents.

Password-protecting an iPhone seemed unnecessary in the early smartphone days, when most devices contained little more than contacts and music. But as smartphones evolved into minicomputers storing personal, location and financial data, the need to safeguard them soared.

Phones today are better protected than they’ve ever been.

“You have to go out of your way to not have a passcode,” said Eric Burger, director of the Georgetown University Center for Secure Communications.

The FBI’s dilemma in the San Bernardino terror investigation has demonstrated how powerful these digital locks can be and could prompt more people to use them.

“The tools of the good guys have gotten a lot more powerful, stronger and with a lot more capability,” Burger said.

The problem is the tools are available to everyone, including terrorists.

Smartphone makers require a passcode, if users want to use their phones to store digital credit cards.

Last year, Apple increased the default passcode length to six characters from four.

Apple also has deterred hackers from making multiple guesses. A security setting wipes an iPhone’s data clean after 10 incorrect tries.

That limit is what’s stymieing FBI officials, who fear if they keep trying to break into shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone, they risk destroying all the content.

“Apple is highly unique in the way it limits access to the area of the phone where information is stored,” said Michael Harris, chief marketing officer at Guidance Software.