14 DAY TRIAL // The Apple versus the FBI controversial dispute continues, this time with new information provided by the feds who admit that the county of San Bernardino changed the password of the iPhone in the days following the attack.
Specifically, Apple accused the FBI that the password of the iPhone was changed in the first 24 hours after the investigators seized it and this blocked the company’s attempts to recover more data from the device using a wireless network that could extract all information. But because the password was changed, creating a backdoor is now the only way to break into the device, Apple says, and the company doesn’t agree with such a method because it would expose all iPhone users across the nation.
“The password reset doesn’t change the fact that Apple needs to hack the iPhone”
But in a statement released this weekend, the FBI says that while it indeed worked with the county to change the password of the phone, this “doesn’t change the fact that Apple needs to hack the device.”
“We know that direct data extraction from an iOS device often provides more data than an iCloud backup contains. Even if the password had not been changed and Apple could have turned on the auto-backup and loaded it on the cloud, there might be information on the phone that would not be accessible without Apple’s assistance,” the FBI says. “The reset of the iCloud account password does not impact Apple’s ability to assist with the court order.”
At the same time, the FBI statement also denies claims made by Apple that the password was changed in the 24 hours after the iPhone was found by the investigators.
The device arrived in the county’s custody on December 3, the FBI explains, and its officers worked with the county to reset the password on December 6, so it was 3 days later when this happened. Furthermore, the latest iCloud backup on the device was made on October 19, and “investigators know that the attacker had been using the phone” after this date.
Certainly, this statement raises more questions as to how Apple and the FBI collaborated in this case, so now everyone’s waiting to see Cupertino’s next move in what turns out to be a modern drama built around a national tragedy.