Every phone can be opened by the Police officials

When we see the past on the penetration of the mobile phone, Mobile data-transmission speeds have skyrocketed: 4G networks offer 12,000 times faster data-transmission speeds than 2G networks. Consumer adoption of 3G and 4G standards has outpaced that of all other technologies, growing to nearly 3 billion connections in less than 15 years, and projected to exceed 8 billion connections by 2020.

It is proven fact that every mobile including iphone can be unlocked without the help of the company. The Justice Department announcement, in a court filing, ends an immediate legal battle over the San Bernardino shooting case but raises questions about Apple’s security.

Technology that makes our smartphones hard to break into without a password makes us safer from hackers and other unwanted intruders. But it also makes it tougher for the police to do their job.

At least more than thousands of law enforcement agencies have tools to get into encrypted smartphones, according to new research, and they are using them far more than previously known. A report from NY Times says, American law enforcement officials for years have said companies like Apple and Google should make it easier to break phone passcodes so they can better investigate crimes. Most technology experts say it’s impossible to make a phone that good guys can easily get into without bad guys exploiting it.

As per New York Times, In a new Apple ad, a man on a city bus announces he has just shopped for divorce lawyers. Then a woman recites her credit card number through a megaphone in a park. “Some things shouldn’t be shared,” the ad says, “iPhone helps keep it that way.”

Apple has built complex encryption into iPhones and made the devices’ security central to its marketing pitch.

That, in turn, has angered law enforcement. Officials from the F.B.I. director to rural sheriffs have argued that encrypted phones stifle their work to catch and convict dangerous criminals. They have tried to force Apple and Google to unlock suspects’ phones, but the companies say they can’t. In response, the authorities have put their own marketing spin on the problem. Law enforcement, they say, is “going dark.”

Yet new data reveals a twist to the encryption debate that undercuts both sides: Law enforcement officials across the nation regularly break into encrypted smartphones. law enforcement agencies in all 50 states now have tools to get into locked, encrypted phones and extract their data, according to years of public records collected in a report by Upturn, a Washington nonprofit that investigates how the police use technology.

At least 49 of the 50 largest U.S. police departments have the tools, according to the records, as do the police and sheriffs in small towns and counties across the country, including Buckeye, Ariz.; Shaker Heights, Ohio; and Walla Walla, Wash. And local law enforcement agencies that don’t have such tools can often send a locked phone to a state or federal crime lab that does.

Law enforcement regularly searches phones with owners’ consent, according to the records. Otherwise, a warrant is required.

An Apple spokesman said in an email that the company was constantly strengthening iPhone security “to help customers defend against criminals, hackers and identity thieves.” But, he added, no device can be truly impenetrable.

Google, which also offers encryption on its Android smartphone software, did not respond to a request for comment. The companies frequently turn over data to the police that customers store on the companies’ servers. But all iPhones and many newer Android phones now come encrypted - a layer of security that generally requires a customer’s passcode to defeat. Apple and Google have refused to create a way in for law enforcement, arguing that criminals and authoritarian governments would exploit such a “back door.”

A big revelation: Law enforcement officials are able to get into phones far more often than previously understood. Jack also said that the fight over phone security has resulted in a messy but largely effective middle ground on safety - even if no one in this debate will say so.

Why should law-abiding people care? People might say they have nothing to hide.

We know how much information our phones have, including our entire location history, passwords to accounts, all our text messages and potentially embarrassing photos. That’s what makes smartphones so valuable in police investigations - and what makes it doubly important for there to be caution in when and why police search them.

Upturn found that many U.S. law enforcement agencies had few restrictions, if any, on what circumstances they can break into people’s phones and what they do with the data. More public transparency about how law enforcement uses these tools would be a welcome extra layer of accountability.

If the police frequently break password locks on smartphones, what’s their complaint?

It sometimes takes days, weeks or months for law enforcement to use technology tools to break into a phone, and many investigations are time sensitive. In those situations, cops and prosecutors don’t care about Apple’s worries over cybersecurity.

Hence, there is need for encrypted smartphones and I am sure it must be underway and it is just a matter of time to arrive.