(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Despite unlocking the Trump shooter’s phone, the FBI’s investigation into the assassination attempt is facing another encryption hurdle, this time involving messaging apps.
In a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said federal agents have been trying to determine a motive for the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, which left one dead and several people injured, including former President Donald Trump. Agents have been examining all the devices and social media accounts used by the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
"Once we got on the phone, it turned out he was using some encrypted messaging applications," Wray said today.
Wray didn’t identify the messaging apps, but he said encrypted apps are commonplace and can prevent investigators from accessing a user's personal messages. Two of the most popular encrypted messaging apps, WhatsApp and Signal, can be configured to require the account holder's fingerprint or passcode to unlock access.
The FBI is "still exploiting a number of the digital devices" that belonged to Crooks, including a laptop, Wray said. But federal investigators have yet to access all devices and accounts.
“Within his various [online] accounts, we’ve been able to get access to some of them, but some of them we’re still waiting on, some of them we may never get access to because of the encryption issue that presents an increasingly vexing barrier for law enforcement,” he added.
It's a familiar refrain. The FBI has long pushed US companies, such as Apple, to introduce a backdoor capable of helping them access locked phones and encrypted communications. However, the tech industry has resisted such pleas, saying this access risks the privacy of all users, not just criminal suspects.
In the Crooks case, the FBI used an Israeli digital forensics firm called Cellebrite to help them unlock the shooter's Samsung phone. The agency has also subpoenaed tech companies for legal access to Crooks' online accounts when end-to-end encryption isn't used.
“I think it is fair to say that we do not yet have a clear picture of his motive,” Wray said during the hearing, later adding: “What I can say is that the shooter appears to have done a lot of searches of public figures in general. But so far, we’re seeing news articles and things like that.”
Wray also noted that Crooks conducted a Google search on July 6 related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Specifically, Wray said Crooks searched: “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy.”