The FBI announcement that mysteriously unlocked an iPhone is a public misstep for Apple Inc., as consumers suddenly discovered that they can not keep safe their most personal information. Meanwhile, the company still does not know how to restore the security of its flagship product. AP
The government announced that it was able to enter the iPhone used by the author of a mass shooting in California, but did not say how. That surprised Apple engineers -and to external expertise on how the FBI broke the seals digital phone without the help of the company. Also he complicated the work of Apple to repair defects that endanger their software.
The Justice Department announcement that it would abandon its legal battle to force Apple to help him enter the phone also stripped the company of any legal means to find out how he did the FBI. The department declined to comment on Tuesday via a spokesman.
They have some clues emerged. A senior law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the FBI managed to win an Apple security feature that threatened to erase the contents of the phone if the correct code is not entered within 10 attempts. That allowed the government to repeatedly test codes, in what is known as a brute-force attack, until the correct password is entered and the computer is unlocked.
It was unclear how the FBI dealt with a related security feature Apple introduced increasingly long delays between each attempt. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the method.
The FBI director James Comey said that once those features were removed, the agency was able to access the phone in 26 minutes.
The FBI entered the phone number you used Syed Farook, who died along with his wife in a shootout with police after he murdered 14 people in San Bernardino last December. The iPhone, which was delivered to Farook by his work at the county health department, was found in a vehicle a day after the shooting.
The FBI checks the device information, and it is unknown whether user data is found.
Apple said Monday in a statement that the legal case to force her to cooperate, "he must have ever presented," and promised to increase the safety of their products. CEO Tim Cook said the company constantly tries to improve safety for their users.
The announcement even FBI without revealing specific details that he entered the iPhone does not agree with the strong recommendation that the government has done for nearly two decades, which states that security researchers always work together and confidentially with manufacturers software before revealing that a product could be susceptible to hackers.