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U.S. NEWSTuesday 22 March 2016
FBI might have way to unlock attacker’s iPhone without Apple
BRANDON BAILEY In this Feb. 17, 2016 file photos an iPhone is seen in Washington. The dispute over whether Apple er phones they left behind,
AMANDA LEE MYERS must help the FBI hack into a terror suspect’s iPhone is about to play out in a Southern California and the FBI has been un-
Associated Press courtroom. able to circumvent the
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A passcode needed to un-
much-anticipated court Associated Press lock the iPhone, which is
hearing on the federal owned by San Bernardino
government’s effort to passcode is incorrectly en- cized the FBI for not doing because the disclosure County and was given to
force Apple Inc. to unlock tered more than 10 times. more to try to crack the weakens the government’s Farook for his job.
the iPhone used by one of The fact that a third party iPhone itself before seeking case by introducing doubt Apple has argued that the
the shooters in the San Ber- may have found a way into Apple’s help. that it could only access government was seeking
nardino terror attack was the phone without Apple’s “To me, it suggests that the phone with Apple’s “dangerous power” that
abruptly vacated Monday help appears to contradict either the FBI doesn’t un- help, he said. exceeds the authority of
after the FBI revealed it every sworn affidavit and derstand the technology “They’ve created ambigui- the All Writs Act of 1789
may have a way to access filing put that the Justice or they weren’t giving us ty in a place where they’ve it cited, and violates the
data without the compa- Department has put for- the whole truth when they previously said there is company’s constitutional
ny’s help. ward in the last month. The said there is no other pos- none,” he said. rights, harms the Apple
Federal prosecutors made government has argued in sible way” of examining Prosecutors have argued brand and threatens the
the surprising announce- each of its filings that Ap- the phone without Apple’s that the phone used by trust of its customers to pro-
ment on the eve of Tues- ple’s help is necessary and help, said Alex Abdo, staff Farook probably contains tect their privacy. The 18th-
day’s hearing in U.S. Dis- that the company was the attorney for the American evidence of the Dec. 2 at- century law has been used
trict Court in Riverside, only entity that could pro- Civil Liberties Union. “Both tack in which the county on other cases to require
California. In court papers vide investigators with what of those are scary to me.” food inspector and his wife, third parties to help law
they said the FBI has been was needed. The ACLU has filed a court Tashfeen Malik, slaugh- enforcement in investiga-
researching methods to FBI Director James Comey brief supporting Apple’s tered 14 at a holiday lun- tions.
access the data on Syed told the House Judiciary position. cheon attended by many It’s not clear what method
Rizwan Farook’s encrypted Committee in sworn tes- Robert Cattanach, a for- of his work colleagues. The the government now wants
phone since obtaining it timony earlier this month mer U.S. Department of Jus- two were killed in a police to test. But even as the FBI
on Dec. 3, the day after that agency investigators tice attorney who handles shootout hours later. has insisted that only Apple
the attack. had approached even the cyber-security cases for the The FBI has said the couple is able to provide the help
“An outside party” came National Security Agency Dorsey & Whitney law firm, was inspired by the Islamic it needs, some technical
forward over the week- for help but did not have said the government would State group. Investigators experts have argued there
end and showed the FBI success. likely not have disclosed it still are trying to piece to- are other options.
a possible method, the Apple has said in its filings had a lead on possibly un- gether what happened The most viable method
government said in court that the government did locking the phone unless and find out if there were involves making a copy of
papers requesting the not exhaust all its options, it was almost certain the collaborators. the iPhone’s flash memory
hearing be postponed. and lawmakers have criti- method would work. That’s The couple destroyed oth- drive, said Jonathan Zdzi-
Authorities need time to arski, a computer expert
determine “whether it is a who specializes in iPhone
viable method that will not forensics.
compromise data” on the That would allow investiga-
phone. tors to make multiple tries
If viable, “it should elimi- at guessing the iPhone’s
nate the need for the as- passcode. A security fea-
sistance from Apple,” ac- ture in the phone is de-
cording to the filing. signed to automatically
The government did not erase the data if someone
identify the third party or makes 10 wrong guesses in
explain what the proposed a row.
method entailed. But if that happens, Zd-
Magistrate Judge Sheri ziarski said, investigators
Pym granted that request could theoretically restore
and ordered the govern- the data from the backup
ment to file a status report copy they have created.
by April 5. Pym also stayed The data itself would re-
her Feb. 16 order compel- main encrypted until the
ling Apple to create soft- phone is unlocked, but it
ware that would disable would remain viable while
security features on the investigators continued to
phone, including one that guess the passcode, he
erases all information if a added.
