Apple expects to discover the FBI's new method to unlock the iPhone

Now that the FBI has discovered a way to unlock Syed Farook's Apple iPhone 5c without Cupertino's help, the law enforcement agency has become the belle of the ball. As we told you last week, numerous police agencies are asking the FBI to help them open an iPhone that they feel might contain evidence. For example, the Conway Police Department in Arkansas is going to use the resources of the FBI to unlock an Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch related to a double murder.

Regardless of whether the FBI responds to Apple's request to spill the beans over how it unlocked Farook's handset, the smart money says that Apple will soon figure out the FBI's magic trick and quickly put the kibosh on it through a software update. Apple needs to issue a fix to close the vulnerability used by the FBI. If this code becomes public, every iPhone owner on the planet will be in danger of having personal information stored on the device hacked. Ironically, this is the exact reason why Tim Cook was so adamant against developing a special version of the iOS for the government to use to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone.

Apple might have a chance to learn how the FBI unlocked the Apple iPhone 5c through a court case in New York involving an Apple iPhone 5s belonging to a drug dealer. If the case continues, Apple is expected to use the discovery phase of the trial to demand that the information be turned over to its attorneys.

Some believe that Israeli software company Cellebrite, the manufacturer of machines used to move contacts and other data from one phone to a new one, is behind the FBI's new found powers. The day that the FBI announced that it had unlocked the deceased terrorist's phone without Apple's help, a $15,000 contract between Cellebrite and the FBI was discovered online.

source: Reuters