The FBI says it may have found a way to unlock the San Bernardino attacker’s iPhone without Apple’s assistance. A court hearing scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed at the request of the US Justice Department (DOJ), Apple has confirmed. The DOJ had ordered Apple to help unlock the phone.
But Apple has continued to fight the order, saying it would set a "dangerous precedent". Ever since this issue arose, security experts have been saying "surely the FBI can do this themselves?" Well, maybe now they can.
An "outside party" – you’d assume a security company, but we don’t know for sure, has approached the FBI and said it could unlock the phone. If they can do it, the court case is irrelevant. The FBI gets what they need.
Apple’s legal team told reporters it wasn’t treating it as a legal victory. The issue still looms large over the company. If the FBI has found a way, who’s to say it’ll always work? Apple will, as any software maker would, frantically try and fix the flaw. After all – if the FBI can do it, so can any other hacker privy to the same information.
If this method works, then what? With each new iteration of iOS, Apple could find itself back in court. The technology industry, led by Apple, has called for the matter to be debated in Congress. This case may be on the brink of going away, but the debate is just starting.