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| Professional hackers discovered at least one software flaw that helped the FBI break into an iPhone used by a San Bernardino attacker, the Washington Post reports (AFP Photo/Chip Somodevilla) |
Washington
(AFP) - Professional hackers discovered at least one software flaw that
helped the FBI break into an iPhone used by a San Bernardino attacker,
the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
These hackers were paid a one-time flat fee for their help, the Post said, quoting people familiar with the case.
The
discovery of the flaw was used to fashion a piece of hardware that
helped US authorities dodge the iPhone's four-digit personal
identification number without activating a feature that would have
erased all the data on the phone, the Post quoted the people familiar
with the case as saying.
The
FBI would not have had trouble cracking the four-digit PIN. The tricky
part, in fact, was to deactivate a feature on the phone that erases data
stored on the device after 10 incorrect tries at guessing the code, the
Post said.
In
the San Bernardino attacks, Syed Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik killed
14 people on December 2 before dying in a firefight with police. Two
other phones linked to the pair were found destroyed after the attack.
The
government filed suit to try to force Apple to help it break into a
phone used by one of the shooters. Apple, backed by other tech giants
such as Google and Facebook, refused, citing concerns over digital
security and privacy.
The
FBI announced late last month that it had managed to break into the
phone with the help of an undisclosed third party, ending the legal
standoff.
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