The US Department of Justice said that it does not need Apple’s help anymore to hack the San Bernardino attacker’s iPhone. The body requested a motion to cancel a Tuesday hearing on whether a federal court order could force Apple to help it open the phone, which is encrypted.
Justice Department officials said an outside party came forward Sunday and showed investigators a way to circumvent the iPhone security features. This came as a surprise as until now the government had insisted that Apple’s assistance was the only possible method for unlocking the phone. Apple had rejected court order against building a back door for iPhone.
A court document filed on Monday read,
Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Syed Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case.
The DoJ proposes filing a progress report on its tests to unlock the iPhone with the courts on April 5. Apple is curious and would like to know who that unknown party is and what they plan to do with unlocking of the phone. Top tech companies like Google, Facebook and others have offered support to Apple, as it resisted a court order to unlock the iPhone.
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