FBI iPhone hack only works on `narrow slice" of devices
Los Angeles - The mystery method US authorities used to hack an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino terror attack will only work on a few devices, according to FBI Director James Comey, US media reported Thursday.
In a speech Wednesday evening, Comey revealed new details about how the FBI got around Apple security measures to access encrypted data on a password-protected iPhone 5c used by attacker Syed Rizwan Farook leading up to the December 2 attack.
Comey said the FBI had bought the tool they used to hack the iPhone from a group "outside the government," but that it would only work on that device model and not on newer models.
He said "this doesn't work in 6s, this doesn't work in 5s. So we have a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones," according to the Washington Post.
Comey said the agency was still debating whether or not to tell Apple how the hacking tool worked, to give them an opportunity to fix the flaw it exploits.
The success of the mystery hack last month abruptly ended a legal standoff between the FBI and Apple. Apple had defied a court order to hack the iPhone to help the government get at data possibly stored on it.
The revelation means the tool's applicability is more limited than previously known, and suggests the FBI may still have to push for court action to get Apple's help opening more than a dozen other devices it wants to access in unrelated cases.
- DPA
