The general in reserve Michael Hayden drove both NSA, and also CIA as a director, and in an interview given to the American publication USA Today he stated that Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), is right when he claims that implementing a gateway in iOS is dangerous.
Although in the case of San Bernadino, Michael Hayden supports the FBI's position to request the unlocking of that one iPhone, as a general rule, he says that operating systems for mobile terminals or computers should not have access ports that allow access to data by government agencies.
Hayden says that the FBI director would like the data of all electronic devices to be easily accessed by the agency he leads, but this would affect the security of Americans not only in the US, but also in various other areas around the globe.
In this specific case, I'm trending towards the government, but I've got to tell you in general I oppose the government's effort, personified by FBI Director Jim Comey. Jim would like a back door available to American law enforcement in all devices globally. And, frankly, I think on balance that actually harms American safety and security, even though it might make Jim's job a bit easier in some specific circumstances.
Although he admitted that he wished that the NSA had decryption keys for all operating systems when he was in charge, Michael Hayden admits that the existence of these systems would allow any hackers to access user data, separate from the agencies governmental.
When you step back and look at the whole question of American security and safety writ large, we are a safer, more secure nation without back doors. a lot of other people would take advantage of it.
Moving on, Michael Hayden claims that there is no easy solution to the whole problem and that it is difficult to find a balance between the security of a nation and that of individuals, and this fight between Apple and the FBI certainly does not make the work of government security agencies easier.
What we're trying to do here is what free people and these free people have done since the inception of the republic, which is to balance two things, both of which are virtues: our security and our privacy. There are no permanent answers to that. We debate them continuously based on the totality of circumstances in which we find ourselves. The point I make to our countrymen: This is not a struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. This is a good people, trying to find the right balance.
The support, even partial, offered by Michael Hayden for Apple demonstrates the fact that not everything the FBI is asking is really that timely and it will be interesting to see how the American government will look at the problem in the end.
