FBI Hacks San Bernardino iPhone Without Apple’s Help, Allegedly Sought Services From Israeli Firm Instead

Apple is no longer under a court order to help the FBI hack into its own product and bypass key security features. It has been revealed that as Apple was fighting the order, the FBI was able to hack into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone without the tech giant’s help. Instead, the company appears to have sought help from an Israeli firm that works in the mobile forensic software industry.

The Daily Mail reports that sources close to the San Bernardino hacking case reveal that the Israeli mobile forensic’s firm Cellebrite was likely the company that helped the FBI bypass key Apple security features in the San Bernardino terrorist iPhone case. The company allegedly was able to deactivate the auto-destruct feature of the iPhone, which destroys phone content after 10 consecutive unsuccessful password attempts. The iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook was the center of a heated battle between the FBI and tech giant Apple prior to the successful hacking attempts.

FBI successfully hacked into shooter’s iPhone, will drop the court case against Apple: https://t.co/UwoZZvNpIw pic.twitter.com/Z8fxu5aFjD

— Forbes (@Forbes) March 29, 2016

Apple was initially told by courts that they must help the FBI hack the iPhone and provide the agency with the ability to bypass key security features. However, Apple immediately refused, noting that the creation of a backdoor key into the iPhone would put the entire iPhone community at risk of privacy violations. Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote an open letter to iPhone users, noting the reasoning behind his denial of services to the FBI and claiming the court case would prove as a serious setback to privacy laws.

“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.”

Fortunately for Apple, the case has been dropped, as the FBI revealed they were able to hack into the iPhone and bypass the self-destruct feature of the phone without Apple’s help. This means that Apple will no longer be required to hack into its own device, but what does it mean for the security of everyday iPhone users?

As USA Today reports, California Congressman Darrell Issa feels the courts battle against privacy is long from over and that the Apple case is just the beginning.

“This lawsuit may be over, but the Constitutional and privacy questions it raised are not.”

Chief Legal and Business Officer at Mozilla Denelle Dixon-Thayer echoes the concerns, noting that just because the San Bernardino terrorist iPhone case has been dropped, there are still roughly a dozen other open cases involving the hacking of smartphone devices.

“This question is clearly not going away just because the government has withdrawn their request in this particular case.”

Neither Apple nor Israeli-based Cellebrite have confirmed that they worked together on the case. However, numerous sources have claimed that Cellebrite is responsible for achieving the San Bernardino cell phone hack for the FBI. Instead, in the two-page document sent to the courts regarding the withdrawal of the case against Apple for help hacking the Farook iPhone, the FBI simply noted that they were able to hack the device with “outside help.”

Cellebrite is a mobile forensics company that reportedly works with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, militaries, and governments in more than 90 countries across the globe. The parent company of Cellebrite, the Japanese firm Sun-Cor, has had contracts with the FBI dating back to at least 2013, making Cellebrite a likely go-to for forensics help in the mobile realm.

What do you think about the FBI hacking into the iPhone without the help of Apple? Do you think this will put an end to court orders to tech firms requesting assistance in hacking into their own devices, or is it only the beginning? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Photo by Richard Drew/AP]