Many people have moral and privacy reasons for why they think Apple should or should not help the FBI unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. But could creating software so that rather than getting locked out for too many unsuccessful password attempts, investigators can have a computer try every single combination very quickly, unimpeded, until it hits the right one, endanger us all?  Time Warner Cable News’ Adam Balkin filed the following report.

 “I think it’s naive for our government to think that once we create the key to unlock the phone that we can protect that key,” says Jeff Smith, CEO of Smule.

That key Jeff Smith is talking about, as you might have guessed, the one the FBI is trying to get Apple to create to help them get into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Smith also teaches data science at Stanford and about a decade ago helped set encryption standards still used today for email. He is part of what appears to be a large number of those in the data security field who fear what will happen if Apple creates a backdoor so to speak into iPhones.

 “Our FBI, unfortunately, is forcing Apple’s hand, and in terms of cyber security, in effect, is creating a very bad and dangerous weapon, that yes, on one hand can be used to prosecute terrorists,” Smith says. “But unfortunately on the other hand, when it inevitably falls into the hands of bad actors, will be used against us."

Now not everyone in the cyber security industry agrees that Apple helping the FBI will unleash a Pandora’s Box of weapons to be used, en masse, against all of us - and that is the good news. The bad news - a Pandora’s Box that also meets that description has already kind of been opened.

Darren Hayes is the director of cyber security at Pace University who also teaches classes on computer security, digital forensics, and digital intelligence gathering.  He says your bigger concern should be what’s already on your phone.

"If countries and intelligence agencies really wanted to get information about you, first of all, they’d have to get access to your physical device and be able to get into that device without your knowing,” Hayes says. “Really what they’re going to do is they’re going to install apps on your phone, and we’ve seen some of these apps, which will be able to grab information from other apps on the device.”

And though it’s still up for debate what, technologically, will get unleashed if Apple does help the FBI. What seems certain if that happens, an unleashing of loads of other similar requests from law enforcement and the courts.