iphonehand

Well, I’m glad they got the San Bernardino phone unlocked. Now, whatever “tool” the FBI used on that one, I hope they focus on expanding their ability to open others, as long as there’s a warrant 🙂

Via WaPo.

The FBI’s method for unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the attackers in San Bernardino, Calif., would only work on a very “narrow slice” of devices, according to the bureau’s director. As a result, FBI Director James B. Comey said, he is confident that the tool would not help unlock newer phones.

Federal authorities have not revealed the outside group that helped them unlock the San Bernardino phone, a device at the center of a weeks-long fight between the FBI and Apple over balancing privacy and security. Nor have they said how this tool — which the FBI bought from an outside firm — let them access the phone.

The FBI is still weighing whether to tell Apple about how they were able to unlock the phone, Comey said during a discussion Wednesday night at Kenyon College.

“We’re having discussions within the government about, okay, so should we tell Apple what the flaw is that was found?” Comey said. “That’s an interesting conversation because you tell Apple and they’re going to fix it and then we’re back where we started from.” […]

While Comey did not disclose the outside group’s method in his remarks Wednesday, he said it would only be useful on a select type of devices — specifically, the iPhone 5C, an older model released more than two years ago.

“The world has moved on to [iPhone] 6’s,” Comey said. “This doesn’t work in 6S, this doesn’t work in a 5S. So we have a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones. … I can never be completely confident, but I’m pretty confident about that.”

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