iphone hack FBI Director: We Paid More Than $1.2 Million for San Bernardino iPhone Hack

[Reefa]

FBI  director James Comey has given us our first hint at how much money the FBI paid to unlock the infamous iPhone at the center of its high-profile encryption fight with Apple.

 

The short answer: “A lot.”

 

“More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months, for sure,” Comey said on Thursday when asked how much the FBI sank into the mysterious hacking technique, which was provided by a still-unnamed “outside party” mere hours before a major courtroom showdown with Apple.

 

That would mean the FBI spent more than $1.2 million for a technique to unlock an iPhone 5c used by Syed Farook, one of the deceased perpetrators of a gun massacre in San Bernardino, California last December. The FBI responded to Motherboard's request for comment on Comey's statement by confirming Comey's salary but not the hacking payment estimate.

 

Acquiring that exploit led the government to withdraw an unprecedented court order, which would have compelled Apple to build software capable disabling the phone's security features—effectively creating a backdoor for the iPhone. Vulnerabilities affecting Apple's iOS are by far the most coveted on the market, and are known to sell on the open market for upwards of $1 million.

 

“It was in my view worth it, because it's a tool that will help us with a 5c with iOS9, which is a bit of a corner case,” Comey told an audience at the Aspen Global Security Forum in London.

 

But so far, despite the FBI's attempts to put a positive spin on it, cracking into the phone hasn't really given investigators any real new information.

 

Comey also said that the FBI isn't soliciting companies to come up with ways to break into the iPhone 6 and 6S, dismissing the popular suggestion of having law enforcement hack into devices instead of mandating backdoors as “backwards” and “not scalable.”

 

“This problem is overwhelmingly affecting law enforcement, and so us buying a tool for a 5c iOS 9 is not scalable, nor could all of those departments afford to pay what we had to invest in this investigation,” he said. “I'm hoping we can somehow get to a place where we have a sensible solution or set of solutions that doesn't involve hacking, and doesn't involve spending tons of money.”

 

source

[steven36]

 

Quote

But there was no contact with ISIS.

It turns out the FBI’s crack of Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c might have yielded some results.

Less than a week after reports surfaced, saying the FBI’s look inside the San Bernardino attacker’s iPhone 5c had so far yielded no results, CNN is reporting, citing U.S. law enforcement officials, that it’s now found something. Those officials say that the iPhone investigators are now able to determine that Farook likely did not make contact with another “plotter” during the 18-minute period in which he drove around after the tragic shooting.

The FBI spent approximately two months trying to crack into Farook’s iPhone 5c, but failed. In February, the U.S. Justice Department sued for Apple’s AAPL -1.59% help in unlocking the device. A magistrate judge sided with the Justice Department and ruled that Apple would be required to create software that would help the FBI’s efforts. Apple countered, saying it would not help the agency for fear of violating personal privacy. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that helping the FBI unlock Farook’s iPhone could set a “dangerous precedent” and violate all of its users’ digital privacy.

 

Soon after, debate raged over which side was right. The FBI argued that it was simply trying to bring justice to the victims and would not violate privacy. Several lawmakers soon chimed in, calling on Apple to work with the FBI to unlock the iPhone in the wake of a terrorist attack. Apple, along with several other technology companies that stood with it, remained steadfast in its belief that privacy is critical, and didn’t bend.

 

In March, however, the FBI announced that it had worked with an unidentified third party that could unlock the iPhone 5c. It was subsequently revealed by FBI Director James Comey that the FBI paid for the tool and other reports suggested hackers siding with the FBI helped with the crack.

The case with Apple was dropped and since then, the FBI has been working on digging through Farook’s data.

 

Last week, CBS News reported, citing its own sources, that the FBI had yet to find anything of “significance” in Farook’s iPhone. The agency’s officials added, however, that they would continue to dig to find something. If CNN’s sources are correct, they finally hit pay dirt.

However, it’s unclear just how important that data really is. According to CNN‘s sources, the iPhone shows no evidence of Farook communicating with known ISIS members or supporters. They added that simply being able to see what Farook did with his iPhone was valuable, since without it, they had to guess at his activities and contacts, according to CNN.

 

http://fortune.com/2016/04/20/fbi-san-bernardino-iphone/

 

They wasted over a million dollars  of tax payers  money and never found nothing and it will most likely just got blocked by apple in a update, 

[bubbada]

Privacy: Fear the unknown be afraid be very afraid...Oh and do'nt forget to spend millions on that assumption.

[Whoopenstein]

I say it's   Apple probably hacked into the phone for the FBI. This is just cover up P.R. .

[mikie]

... gov paid for it... all Americans should have access to it now.

[CODYQX4]

They'll be sure to use this to tap their ex's phones while finding nothing of value on this phone they claimed so important.

[steven36]

How  is any info they found about a dead man  of any value  it didn't lead too no other terrorist and you cant convect  a dead man  unless you plain too go to the afterlife  and bring him back?

[Rastus_BoJangles_Johnson]

Hacking the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone has produced data the FBI didn't have before and has helped the investigators answer some remaining questions in the ongoing probe.

[steven36]

27 minutes ago, Rastus_BoJangles_Johnson said:

Hacking the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone has produced data the FBI didn't have before and has helped the investigators answer some remaining questions in the ongoing probe.

Yes it produced data they didn't  have before, if they hacked you're cell phone it  would produce data they didn't  have before. But if its dont catch other terrorists  its not helpful . you can know all you want about a person  but that's only useful if you want to write a book about  them. They already knew who done it  and there dead..so that data  wont solve  any crimes its useless data that will never be used for  nothing .

[flitox]

i had a good laugh ready that news, thinking of a comment i've read here saying those hackers were patriot hackers whahahahaha