A mysterious third party has offered to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has postponed a scheduled hearing with Apple, saying it may not need Apple to unlock the famous San Bernardino iPhone.
The hearing, which was set for today, was arranged to discuss an iPhone belonging to Sayed Farook, one of two shooters who killed 14 people in 2015.
The DOJ has been locked in a legal battle with Apple for weeks, asserting that the tech giant should be forced to unlock the device for the FBI. But for now, the DOJ is stepping back saying it may have found an “outside party” to crack Apple’s unbreakable security features.
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“As a result of the worldwide publicity and attention on this case, others outside the U.S. government have continued to contact the US. government offering avenues of possible research,” the DOJ said in their motion to postpone the hearing. “On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FMI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone.”
The DOJ isn’t saying who their mysterious source is, but if their efforts are successful, Apple would be off the hook.
Apple’s stance all along has been that it will protect the privacy of its customers — a message it reaffirmed yesterday (March 21) in its keynote speech. At the product event, CEO Tim Cook said, “We believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data, and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers, and we owe it to our country…And we will not shrink from this responsibility.”
In February, the FBI submitted a court order directing Apple to develop a new iOS that would provide law enforcement officials the ability to access encrypted phone data. Apple has refused to submit to the order, claiming that any “backdoor” would also allow cyber criminals to access protected data.
The DOJ have until April 5, 2016 to file a status report on their attempts to unlock Farook’s iPhone.
