Cisco CEO Robbins On Apple's FBI Battle: There Shouldn't Be Backdoors In Products

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins weighed in on the ongoing conflict between Apple CEO Tim Cook and the FBI over iPhone encryption, saying that while he believes the situation is "incredibly complicated," technology companies should not put backdoors into their products.

"I don't believe we should put backdoors in our products or any technology company should put backdoors in their technologies ... it could weaken the privacy or security of solutions," said Robbins when asked by CRN about the Apple encryption debate at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. "There is no easy answer to this. … I believe encryption is incredibly important for protecting citizens' data and health-care information. All the reasons encryption was implemented are valid reasons."

[Related: Intel CEO Backs Apple, But Believes There Is Way For Engineers To Get Data From Terrorist iPhone To Protect Citizens]

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Robbins' comments come in the midst of an intense debate involving Apple and the FBI, which is pressing Apple to unlock the iPhone used by one of the assailants in the December San Bernardino mass shooting.

Apple does not have access to the data on its phones, so the FBI requested the company create a new version of its operating system, eliminating some security features, to install on the iPhone in question. Previously, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, which has provided default encryption on its iPhones since 2014, could use a tool that would plug into the phone and allow it to respond to search warrant requests from the government.

FBI Director James Comey Sunday released a statement saying the FBI is not looking to ’break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land.’

Cisco’s Robbins, for his part, said there is a need for ’balance’ between citizens' privacy and national security.

"There is a need for transparency around the issue, and there needs to be balance between a citizen's requirement for privacy and their desire to maintain their privacy, with the need for country to have national security," he said.

When asked what he would do in a similar situation, Robbins said Cisco's situation is "completely different."

"We have products that forward lots of information and our customers choose to deploy encryption … it's a different scenario," he said. "This is an incredibly complicated issue, and the two sides need to sit down and come to a conclusion about how we compromise to make sure privacy is balanced with national security."

Cisco has had its own issues with the government allegedly obtaining a backdoor to its networking products. In the book "No Place To Hide" by Glenn Greenwald there were photos suggesting the National Security Agency had intercepted Cisco networking gear being shipped overseas to install backdoors for surveillance.

In an interview with CRN in 2014, then-Cisco CEO John Chambers said the networking leader was going to make it tougher for groups like the NSA to meddle with Cisco gear for surveillance purposes.

Solution providers, for their part, have stood behind Cook during the debate, saying encryption could be undermined should Cook give in to the FBI’s demands.

In a poll on CRN.com, 76 percent of the respondents said they are siding with Cook on the iPhone battle between the FBI and Apple.

A handful of other executives from technology companies have also backed Cook on the encryption debate. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich on Monday backed Apple, saying he supports Cook but believes there are opportunities for engineers to get data from terrorists’ phones to protect citizens.