FBI has announced that they were able to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters and were able to retrieve data from it without Apple's help. The lawsuit against the tech giant has also been dropped.
According to Tech Crunch, the iPhone that was involved was that of Syed Rizwan Farook's, which was a 5c model and was issued to him by the county. FBI said in a statement last week that an outsider has offered help to unlock the iPhone without having Apple assist them. However, the government has not been open about the method that led to the unlocking of the iPhone, keeping details under wraps.
The latest filing in the lawsuit reads that the government has successfully accessed the data stored in Farook's iPhone and no longer requires the assistance from Apple. This comes after five weeks of back and forth from the two parties. They were supposed to face off in a courtroom in Riverside, California last week but FBI cancelled.
The FBI believes that the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters will provide them the data needed to fill the time gap as to when the shooters killed 14 people and injured 22. The San Bernardino investigation will now continue, Los Angeles Times reported.
Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement that the FBI is currently reviewing the information on the phone and although the lawsuit against Apple has been dropped, she pointed out that the fight over encryption-protected technology is likely to continue. She noted that it still remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement officials can obtain digital information in the future, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Apple has declined to oblige to FBI's request citing privacy concerns. They have not yet commented on the success of the government in unlocking the iPhone without their help. It is unclear if FBI will be ordered to talk to Apple about the method they have chosen in order to unlock the iPhone in question.
