Last month, Apple was facing a judicial order sought by the FBI that compelled the tech giant to help intelligence agents override the security features on the iPhone 6S of deceased San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. The seemingly impenetrable phone could not be accessed without a custom-built software 'master key' from Apple, the security agency argued. However, to build such a key might have threatened the security and privacy of iPhone users the world over, leaving Apple between a rock and a hard place.
Now, Apple has a different problem – the FBI managed to hack the phone without its help.
Though the FBI's success has helped Apple dodge a sticky legal battle, it has simultaneously shattered the no-doubt lucrative myth of 'Fortress iPhone'. What's worse, Apple doesn't know how the successful hack was pulled off. If there's a fault line in the iPhone's defences that the FBI was able to exploit, Apple is none the wiser about where it is and how it might be fixed.
Apple is now reportedly considering undertaking legal action of its own against the FBI to find out how the hack was carried off, fearing that all iPhone products are now vulnerable. According to AVG Technologies product counsel Justin Olsen, the government ought to privately disclose to Apple how the iPhone's defences were breached so that the company can reinforce security on its products.
'Apple's best chance is to make a compelling case that the disclosure of this exploit is in the interest of national security, as in, if it remains undisclosed and undiscovered, it potentially puts innocent users at risk of data breaches,' he said.
According to other reports, Apple may be able to compel the FBI to provide details of how it hacked the phone if the intelligence agency decides to pursue a separate case involving a Brooklyn drug ring, in which it is also seeking Apple's help for an iPhone hack.
It has not yet been disclosed by the FBI whether the technique used on Farook's phone will work on other iPhone devices, including the one involved in the Brooklyn case.
Source: Reuters; Daily Mail
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