BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese state-backed experts have found a way to identify people who use Apple’s encrypted AirDrop messaging service, according to the Beijing municipal government.
AirDrop allows users to send content to Apple devices in close proximity without an internet connection, encoded so they cannot be viewed by other people.
The Beijing municipal government’s justice bureau said experts at the Beijing Wangshen Dongjian Justice Appraisal Institute in the capital had devised a way to reveal an iPhone’s encrypted device log. From there, they could identify an AirDrop user’s phone number and email accounts, the Monday statement on the bureau’s website said.
It said the technique “cracked the tough technological problem of the transmission of inappropriate information with anonymous traceability via AirDrop”. The method also “raised the efficacy and accuracy of case detection and resolution, and has effectively helped police ascertain several case suspects”.
