FBI Paid $1.3 Million To Hack San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone

After vacating the court order regarding the FBI asking for assistance from Apple to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, more information about the hacking has been revealed. Accordingly, the FBI paid $1.3 million to have the iPhone opened without the help of the tech giant.

In a report by The Wall Street Journal, FBI Director James Comey revealed the amount that they paid at the Aspen Security Forum in London. He did not give the specific amount but hinted that it is more than his salary for the remaining more than seven years in his term as the FBI director. His annual salary is at $180,000 a year so it is possible that the money given to the hacker/s is more than $1.26 million. Comey continued to say that they paid a lot of the hacking tool but it was worth it.

CNBC News reported that the hacking of the iPhone was the largest ever publicized amount for a hacking technique. The Justice Department announced in March that they were able to unlock the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook via an unidentified third party then dropped their case against Apple.

Comey also revealed that the FBI will be able to use the software that was used on the San Bernardino shooter's phone on other 5C iPhones that run on an IOS 9 software. He noted that the software does not work with an iPhone 6s or 5s.

According to Fortune, despite the reports that the hacking of the concerned iPhone 5C yielded no important results, law enforcement officials said that they were able to find useful information. However, they discovered that Farook did not make contact with another plotter aside from his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who was with him when they shot people at a company party.

The hacking of the iPhone was able to close the 18-minute gap that investigators were not able to fill as to what he did during the time when he and his wife fled from the incident and drove around before getting killed by police officials. Officials were also able to comb through his contacts and found out he was not in contact with any Islamic State member before the attack.

The San Bernardino shooting killed 14 and wounded 22. This took place last December 2, days after the Paris attacks.

Tags

FBI, iPhone hacking, San Bernardino shooter, Apple, $1.3 million, software, FBI Director James Comey, Aspen Security Forum, encryption

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