As detailed in a new report from ZDNet, the FBI will not be required to disclose how it unlocked the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone early last year. The decision comes after several major news organizations filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit to reveal the tool and its price.
In the ruling, federal judge Tanya Chutkan explained that revealing details about vendor and cost would “amount to putting a target on its back.”
It’s widely believed that the FBI worked with the Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite in unlocking the iPhone 5c used by Syed Farook. Specific details of how the device was unlocked, however, are still unclear.
Speculation was rampant as to how much the FBI paid for the unlocking tool, with some reports claiming just $15,000 and others over $1 million. The court likewise this weekend said that releasing the price would “designate a finite value” for the unlocking technology.
Apple went toe-to-toe with the FBI over unlocking the San Bernardino iPhone 5c, saying that it didn’t have the technology to do so. Tim Cook called the creation of such a tool the “software equivalent of cancer” as the company stood firm on its decision not to help the FBI in the case.
The court ruling this weekend seems to be an attempt to finally put this case to rest for good, but whether or not that turns out to be true remains to be seen.
