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takyon writes:

The FBI will not have to disclose the name of the vendor that it paid to hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists:

A federal court ruled yesterday that the FBI does not have to disclose either the name of the vendor used or price the government paid to hack into the iPhone SE of mass shooter Syed Farook, according to ZDNet. The device became embroiled in a heated national controversy and legal standoff last year when Apple refused to help the FBI develop a backdoor into it for the purpose of obtaining sensitive information on Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, both of whom participated in the terrorist attack that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California in December 2015.

The Justice Department originally filed a lawsuit against Apple to compel it to participate by creating a special version of its mobile operating system, something Apple was vehemently against because of the risk such a tool posed to users. But very soon after, the government withdrew from the case when a third-party vendor secretly demonstrated to the FBI a workable method to bypass the iPhone's security system. Three news organizations — the Associated Press, Vice News, and USA Today — filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in September 2016 to reveal details of the hacking method used. Because it was not clear how many phones the workaround could be used on, and whether the FBI could use it surreptitiously in the future, the lawsuit was seeking information that would be pertinent to the public and security researchers around the globe.

But it's probably Cellebrite.

Previously: Washington Post: The FBI Paid "Gray Hat(s)", Not Cellebrite, for iPhone Unlock
FBI Can't Say How It Hacked IPhone 5C
Meeting Cellebrite - Israel's Master Phone Crackers
Cellebrite Appears to Have Been Hacked
Senator Dianne Feinstein Claims That the FBI Paid $900,000 to Break Into a Locked iPhone

Related: FBI Resists Revealing its Tor User Identification Methods in Court

Original Submission

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "will not have to disclose the name of the vendor" - https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/1/16393074/apple-iphone-fbi-hacking-tool-san-bernardino-case-secret-court-order
3. "according to ZDNet" - http://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-allowed-to-keep-secret-details-of-iphone-hacking-tool-court-rules/
4. "embroiled in a heated national controversy and legal standoff last year" - https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/17/11036306/apple-fbi-iphone-encryption-backdoor-tim-cook
5. "workable method to bypass the iPhone's security system" - https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/28/11317396/apple-fbi-encryption-vacate-iphone-order-san-bernardino
6. "filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in September 2016" - https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/16/12941264/fbi-sued-ap-vice-media-gannett-san-bernardino-iphone-hack
7. "But" - https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/with-fbi-and-cellebrites-help-miami-police-bust-into-seized-iphone-6/
8. "it's" - https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/03/hacker-leaks-ios-bypassing-tools/
9. "probably" - https://theintercept.com/2016/10/31/fbis-go-hackers/
10. "Cellebrite" - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-30/fbi-said-to-work-with-israel-s-cellebrite-to-crack-iphone
11. "Washington Post: The FBI Paid "Gray Hat(s)", Not Cellebrite, for iPhone Unlock" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/04/13/1229217
12. "FBI Can't Say How It Hacked IPhone 5C" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/04/29/0227255
13. "Meeting Cellebrite - Israel's Master Phone Crackers" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/09/26/1350205
14. "Cellebrite Appears to Have Been Hacked" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/01/16/2255225
15. "Senator Dianne Feinstein Claims That the FBI Paid $900,000 to Break Into a Locked iPhone" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/05/06/0219224
16. "FBI Resists Revealing its Tor User Identification Methods in Court" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/03/31/1536224
17. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=22557

printed from SoylentNews, Federal Court Rules That the FBI Does Not Have to Disclose Name of iPhone Hacking Vendor on 2026-08-11 14:58:02