FBI cracks into gunman’s iPhone using mysterious technique without Apple’s help

THEY haven’t revealed how they did it, but the FBI have accessed San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone — and done so without Apple’s assistance.

FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2013, file photo, a woman using a phone walks past Apple's logo near its retail outlet in Beijing. Even while it fiercely opposes the FBI’s demand for help unlocking an encrypted iPhone used in the San Bernardino mass shootings, Apple has never argued that it isn’t capable of doing what the government wants. While the FBI may have found an alternative solution in the San Bernardino case, experts say it’s almost certain that Apple and other tech companies will keep increasing the security of their products, making it harder or perhaps even impossible for them to answer government demands for customers’ data. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

THE FBI says it successfully used a mysterious technique without Apple’s help to break into an iPhone linked to the gunman in a California mass shooting.

The surprise development effectively ends a pitched court battle between Apple and the Obama administration.

The government told a federal court on Monday without any details that it accessed data on gunman Syed Farook’s iPhone and no longer requires Apple’s assistance. Farook and his wife died in a gun battle with police after killing 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December.

The FBI did not give any details as to how they got into the phone. Picture: AFP/ROBYN BECK

Apple did not immediately comment on the development.

A US magistrate last month ordered Apple to provide the FBI with software to help it hack into Farook’s work-issued iPhone. The order touched off a debate pitting digital privacy rights against national security concerns.

Apple had previously argued against the court order saying to create a software tool was “the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of (encrypted) locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes”.

Apple is at pains to point out it has worked with the FBI in handing over all the information it has in this case and even advised them on how to access any further information on the phone. But it draws the line at being forced to uncover information it does not have.

L-R: Activists Luis Nolasco, Aki Rose, Evan Greer and Josh Rabb hold placards reading "Secure Phones Saves Lives" during a protest in front of the US District Court. Picture: AFP/ FREDERIC J. BROWN

Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote an open letter to Apple customers saying “we have no sympathy for terrorists”. But Apple had to look beyond this dispute, knowing that if it were to make a tool to enable government access then other governments might also demand its use.

“In our democracy, no one — not technology companies, coders, or average citizens — can be forced to write an article, carry a sign, post an update on Facebook or write and sign computer code that communicates or endorses a government idea that they don’t agree with,” EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene says.

“What the FBI asked the court to do violates free speech rights and puts the security and privacy of millions of people at risk.”