Apple and the FBI can say goodbye for now.
The U.S. said it has gained access to the data on the iPhone used by a terrorist and no longer needs Apple Inc.’s assistance, marking an end to a legal clash that was poised to redraw boundaries between personal privacy and national security in the mobile Internet age.
The Justice Department said a week ago that it was approached by an unidentified third party about a possible method to get into the phone.
The government said in a court filing Monday that it “has now successfully accessed the data stored” on the iPhone 5c used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife carried out the December attack in San Bernardino, California. The filing provided no details on how investigators got the data.
The Justice Department was fighting Apple in court in an unprecedented showdown when it abruptly asked last week to cancel a hearing before a federal magistrate judge over her order directing the company to help investigators get into the phone.
The decision to drop a legal battle that could have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court marks a win for Apple. The Cupertino, California-based company resisted being forced to write new software that would make it easier for the FBI to break into the shooter’s phone.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said such a move would pose a threat to the privacy of hundreds of millions of iPhone users around the world, arguing that a backdoor of that nature could be exploited by less reputable parties.
While Apple has emerged victorious from the court tussle, the government’s claim that the FBI was able to hack the iPhone with the help of a third party tarnishes the iPhone’s purported security prowess. Monday’s filing signals that government agencies can break into phones with encryption systems that were designed to make them impenetrable.
The FBI was able to unlock the iPhone over the weekend without compromising the data stored on it using the method provided by the third party, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.
Investigators are currently reviewing the information obtained from the phone, said the official who spoke to reporters on the condition of being anonymous. The official declined to provide any details, such as what was on the phone, the identity of the third party or how the method worked. The official also declined to say whether the U.S. will give Apple details about the hacking method.
“Our decision to conclude the litigation was based solely on the fact that, with the recent assistance of a third party, we are now able to unlock that iPhone without compromising any information on the phone,” Eileen Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “We sought an order compelling Apple to help unlock the phone to fulfill a solemn commitment to the victims of the San Bernardino shooting – that we will not rest until we have fully pursued every investigative lead related to the vicious attack.”
Apple said the court case never should have been brought.
“We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated,” the company said in a statement.
“Apple believes deeply that people in the United States and around the world deserve data protection, security and privacy. Sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.”
