14 DAY TRIAL // The US Department of Justice has recently announced that the Tuesday court hearing over the San Bernardino iPhone case involving Apple has been delayed, as the FBI has discovered a new way to break into the device without help from the Cupertino-based company.
Previously, the FBI has requested Apple to develop custom software that could be used to unlock an iPhone used by the attackers at San Bernardino, but the company refused to do so, citing the additional security risks and privacy violations that such a decision would cause.
While the FBI previously said that Apple is the only one that can help break into the iPhone, a new filing reveals that the feds have found a different way to hack the device and access the information stored on it. Testing still needs to be conducted in order to determine whether this solution is safe and doesn’t create any risk of losing data on the iPhone.
“On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook's iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. ('Apple') set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case,” the filing reads.
Apple to look into the method too
In a statement sent to Politico, the DoJ confirms that other security experts have found a way to break into the device and Apple is now expected to discuss this method to make sure that the data is not compromised.
“As a result of these efforts, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI this past weekend a possible method for unlocking the phone," a DOJ spokeswoman was quoted as saying. "We must first test this method to ensure that it doesn’t destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic. That is why we asked the court to give us some time to explore this option.”
Clearly, if someone else manages to break into the iPhone, the dispute between the FBI and Apple would come to an end in a way that nobody expected, but it’ll still be interesting to see how Cupertino responses should the hack involve exploiting a security flaw in the device.