THE FBI MAY HAVE HACKED FINALLY THE SYED RIZWAN FAROOK IPHONE 5C BYPASSING THE APPLE CORE LEGAL BATTLE TO GET A BACKDOOR ACCESS WITH TERRORISTS SMARTPHONES

The FBI’s last-minute decision to press pause in their legal fight with Apple over the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone is roiling the agency's critics who accuse it of acting disingenuously.
For weeks, critics pressed the FBI on whether it tried hard enough to hack into the device on its own, before it sought a court order to force Apple to help.
Then on Monday, the FBI unexpectedly asked to cancel the first hearing in the case, saying it may have found a way in without the help of the company’s engineers.

ADVERTISEMENT

The eleventh-hour shift gave new ammunition to critics who argued that the agency’s focus was on setting a precedent on encrypted communications, not investigating shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s device.Others see the move as evidence of a possible solution to the broader debate: They say companies don’t need to build “backdoors” to their products; the FBI simply needs to get better at hacking.
“We're in this situation where I think law enforcement needs to really develop those skills up by themselves,” Dr. Susan Landau, a professor of cybersecurity policy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, told the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
When it called off the hearing, the FBI said that a "non-governmental third party" had found a possible way to break into the device without Apple’s help. FBI Director James B. Comey said Thursday that he was “optimistic” the unknown party’s solution would work.
Exactly who is helping the agency — and how — is a matter of rampant speculation. Some reports suggest Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite is the FBI’s white knight, while others say the rumor is bunk.
The agency does have a $15,000 contract dated March 21 with the company for “information technology software,” although the "principle place of performance" is listed as Chicago.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/274350-fbi-reversal-in-apple-fight-draws-critics-ire