Update #2: Apple has responded to the latest filing from the Department of Justice saying that if the government is unable to succeed in unlocking the device on its own, Apple will demand to know everything about the method by which it tried.
Update: The judge has granted the DOJ’s motion to vacate the hearing.
Apple was set to face off against the FBI in court tomorrow regarding its refusal to unlock the iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen. Now, however, the government has moved to vacate tomorrow’s hearing, saying that it has found an outside method with which to unlock the iPhone.
According to filing just made by the Department of Justice, it was demonstrated a method that would not require Apple’s assistance to unlock the iPhone in question (via Politico):
“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 went on to ask that “the hearing set for March 22, 2016” be vacated.
The filing explains that since the attacks on December 2nd, the FBI has been researching various methods by which it could unlock the iPhone 5c. Since the case against Apple was made public, the FBI says that it has been approached by outside sources with suggestions as to how to unlock the device, hence its request to cancel the hearing scheduled for tomorrow.
Judge in Apple encryption case to hold hearing at 4p PT/7p ET today on whether to vacate Tuesday's hearing – Reuters, citing a source
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 21, 2016
Apple has yet to respond to the filing, but it should be interesting considering we’ve seen people claim in that past that they would be able to unlock the iPhone 5c. Earlier today, Apple talked about its battle with the FBI during a press event where it unveiled the new iPhone SE and iPad Pro, explaining that its duty as a company to protect user data.
Below is a separate comment from the DOJ on the case:
https://twitter.com/JohnPaczkowski/status/712050190555873280/photo/1
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I smell a HUGE load of BS here. This is the government’s way of hoping this whole issue will go away for now leaving them an opportunity to revisit when the heat dies down and they have a more explosive emotional case on their side.
Whether the phone is ever unlocked or not, I’m doubtful we’ll ever hear about it – certainly we’ll never have proof, including of this veiled zero-day vulnerability that would no doubt be required to accomplish what’s being proposed here.
Very interested to read how Apple responds to this.
I hope they respond by treating this situation as an exploit and working to make it even less possible for governmental agencies to access random iPhones.
From ArsTechnica
Andrew Crocker, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, pointed out that while the public still doesn’t know what decryption capabilities the FBI and other federal agencies have, it is known that the government retains zero-days for their own purposes.
He said he think’s “it’s possible” that the DOJ would try to bring a similar case again. “But part of the reason they didn’t want to have this reason was that they couldn’t say in good faith that they had tried all the other alternatives,” he told Ars.
In other words “We don’t think we can win this so we need to bail before precident is set against us”
Face saving by the “crack FBI Legal Team (Engulf & Devour)” that is truly clueless.
And “Crack” meaning “smoking too much crack.”
This is exactly what’s going on here. More people are beginning to see this for what it is: an attempted invasion of privacy and after the NSA revelations it makes more sense what big brother is trying to do.
The DOJ/FBI hopes to get a new law passed that will force companies to build in backdoors.
If they loose these court cases it will undermine their efforts to manipulate law makers.
Looks like they are backing out without the case being heard because they know they will loose emphatically!
Mother of god…
Well, if the FBI said it then it must be true, right? I guess John McAfee came stumbling into the FBI headquarters, high as a kite on weed, and said, “Gimme the damn thing. I’ll crack it for you losers!”
TL:DR, the FBI relied on the fact that most people in america are ignorant and don’t look at the bigger picture, and believed anything the government and the media told them.
After this failed terribly, there running away before any more damage can be done to them legally, and reputation wise.
Wonder if this was the method they used…..
https://www.facebook.com/100001124120764/videos/1018654068182054/?autoplay_reason=ugc_default_allowed&video_container_type=1&app_id=350685531728
I’ve worked out exactly how they managed to get a third party to assist them to unlock this iPhone. They leaned on Farook’s bank and got them to disclose the PIN that he used to access his bank account. They will then type that number into his iPhone ( and will discover that there was no worthwhile information on there after all ).
I really hope your joking, when the dude activates siri it reads his fingerprint and unlocks the phone, you just cant see that its unlocked because hes in siri. Not a hack or even a glitch. This guy is stupid
This sounds like slander to me, hopefully the judge will require the FBI to present the methodology proposed to unlock the phone or deny the request to vacate.
Since the FBI opened the door I hope the Judge will compel the Feds to produce this supposed “work around” and if they fail or refuse then the Judge should deny their request and go forward with the hearing. Apple should see this through to SCOTUS.
Sounds about right… the FBI was just after a quicker and easier way that had less risk — the best people to ask were Apple.
Had Apple complied, the ability to access the phone would have been kept in the hands of the FBI and Apple – a more secure method could have been found.
Now accessing the phone has been left to outside sources, which if they succeed will show that Apple phones werent as secure as they were leading us to believe and also showing that you don’t need Apple to access a phone.
I think this is far scarier than having Apple unlock the the phone…
It is possible it is a scare tactic… but if it is real, then the people have very little say and 3rd party methods will be used to access your data and the FBI probably wont share that info with Apple because it will give the FBI time to access other phones until Apple find away to prevent their methods…
Good work everyone…lol
It is possible the FBI is full of shit here. Alternatively they decided to they were going to get absolute bupkis from Apple and went to their friends at NSA who had the serious tools (and increased risk) to break the phone.
This is the same organization that demanded the social services dept (who owns the phone as Farook’s employer) to reset the password which put them in their own pickle.
There were already other ways to get the data; the Feds took this approach because they want precident set in their favour. This story of suddenly discovering another method was likely their backup plan in case precident was likely to be set against them.
This wouldnot have set any legal precedent as its being heard and decided by a Magistrate.
If you’ve kept up with jailbreaking for a while you’d understand that every iOS version has at least 1 bug or way to get into its primary database. Programmers and iOS devs do it all the time. Apple never said anything about it being 100% secure and that your information is undoubtedly safe. They just upgrade the security and fill in the gaps every time a gap is found or someone on their security team or an outside source finds one each time they do updates. The more recent updates obviously include a lot better security features such as the cloud verification, top notch encryption and for the FBI, the 4 number passcode you type every time you unlock your phone.
So believe me when i say that Im not surprised they found a way in (this is if they are just saying it to cover up their dumb asses by saying they found a different solution) but i am surprised that it took them this long with the resources they have and actually tried to do what they were doing to apple. ie threatened to put the CEO behind bars, threatened to take apples source code and basically threatened to annihilate encryption which is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve heard since 9/11…and wouldn’t you know, it’s the same people..kinda
the way it’s all been reading is that Apple is this very secure device etc…
I know about the gaps and patches…
in fact Mac has many and i think one is still not fixed and it’s been like that for about a year now
Name one jailbreak that worked on a locked iPhone.
And every one of them jailbreaks needs the phone to be unlocked first.
No system is impenetrable if you have physical access to it. This goes for any computer, smartphone, or even safe!
What one man makes another can break. It always will be that way, or, said another way, there’s a work-around for almost everything.
I read all the briefing. The FBI weren’t on shaky ground, they were standing on quicksand, but they thought they had a strong test case anyway based on the emotions surrounding terrorism. Backing out now is just to save face, and avoid setting a legal precedent or larger public debate that would truly thwart similar attempts/requests down the road.
They should be tried in court for even trying to do this. It’s B.S. they’re let off like this an no laws were established to prevent them from coming back to this.
Love all the internet lawyers….the FBI was standing on quick sand, etc, etc. this was never about an invasion of privacy. Everyone jumping on the apple bandwagon really did not see the forest for the trees. The terrorists will continue now to have a place to hide and Apple will continue to push privacy issues. Like Tim Cook really cares about your privacy. Gullible people America is. Perhaps the terrorists need to knock down a few more towers and kill a few more thousand people before America wakes up and stands with their government.
Terrorists or anyone else can already easily use tools to hide their communications. Compromising device security via technological or litigious means does not change this.
Nope. I’m a lot more fearful of the government than the low statistical likelihood of a terrorist incident…which, by the way, is pretty much not preventable through a backdoor in cell phones.
– believes a company which has helped push the world forward x a billion more than current government, can’t possibly care about the customers
– believes a state which is proven parasitic in every sense is fully benign
K
So, raist3001, before you make claims like this – did you bother to read the New York Times article on what the investigators found after the Paris attacks – They found cases of “burner phones” – you know, phones that are anonymous and are disposed of once they are used. And NOT ONE of them had any encryption! The terrorists used them once and disposed of them.
How does that fit with your theory of Apple and Privacy? Where are the terrorists hiding – behind disposable phones.
Do us all a favor – read the facts before you post up your opinion on privacy, encryption and Apple’s outlook on its customer’s rights to privacy!
BTW – “raist3001” – You a Donald Trump supporter?
The terrorists were the ones after Apple hiding under the guise of “policing” – that’s the elephant in the room you’re ignoring.
I’m an actual lawyer. Are you? Did you read the briefing and are you familiar with the prior case law, norms of statutory interpretation, and on what basis a judge would actually decide Apple’s motion opposing the order? Do you understand the role CALEA plays in the issue at hand, and how statutory preemption works? The FBI/DOJ were not even on solid ground with their argument assuming the case was limited to just the single phone.
Pompous moron.
You can’t make this stuff up.
If this is true someone or some company just got big bag of money. And if this is true at all it’s the worst outcome. I would have had more trust in an Apple – FBI cooperation then commercial companies trying to break security features for making tons of money. Which is what they will try because it’s clear for everyone now that there’s money to be made in cracking iPhones for governments. Well done making a big fuzz about this FBI and Apple.
Cowards.
So the FBI has finally stumbled upon Edward Snowdens Twitter and found a “sudden” solution…
Anyone who says things like “I’d rather have Apple do it then someone else” has not even a clue of what was at stake, even with the very clear communications Apple and news site like this have put forward. We are talking about putting all phones’ security at risk, vs. a very complicated method of replacing the storage that registers the number of attempts at entering the pin. This is not a method the common identity thief would ever attempt. It is something the government would do in case it needs to access VERY important information.
What the F*** ? All this hopla and at the end when rubber meets road in court, FBI/DOJ has to say found a way to unlock the iphone they said they could not do ? You see why Americans don’t trust their own Government ? May be FBI is waiting for another terrorist attack and than go back to fight against Apple because FBI has lots of our tax $$$$ to waste.
I guess the warrant to cut off the fingers from the corpse worked. Now they can unlock it all.
Not a bad strategy.
it was a 5c, no fingerprint.
I hope the FBI is successful – if they are, then they definitely need to keep the method secret.
Divulging the method would obviously result in a highly irresponsible corporation like Apple moving to obstruct the FBI in future investigations. The days when governments had a cosy, supportive relationship with Apple are over – Apple is now part of the problem not part of the solution.
Even if they do access this phone, the FBI should immediately open up another case, if necessary one a device with a more recent IOS. I would go with a child molester case – see how much Apple likes the publicity associated with them ‘protecting the privacy’ of a child molester.
Look, it’s the pants-wetting panic bunny John Smith!
What you fail to understand about how criminal procedure works is that any evidence gathered off of the phone that they would want to use for a future prosecution of another party would necessarily be subject to disclosure and examination by defense-side expert witnesses.
You’re so creepily obsessed with this that you’re probably sitting in your chair literally wishing something horrible happens to a child so that there is justification to attack Apple in a future case. Go seek help.
Look it’s the apple fanboy flavioslave.
What you fail to understand is the common practice not to use the information directly as evidence when surveillance, informants or technical means are involved – so that they don’t have to give disclosure of the method. Duh.
There is no need for me to wait for anything to happen to a child – it happens daily.
For people who think your phone (!) is more important than prosecuting killers or child molesters, you are probably beyond seeking help.
See look, we can all be rude. It’s easy. Laugh.
IDIOTS. The DOJ/FBI just stuck it’s tail between it’s legs, as it knew it had no legal ground to stand upon in the first place. Bitches. Your bark is way worse than your bite. You had no public support at “Hello”: Way to disappoint your constituents.