In less than 24 hours on Monday, federal prosecutors declared "a third party" came forward to present a possible solution for unlocking the encrypted iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooters, a stunning disclosure that could end the month long legal standoff between Apple and the government.
Late Monday in Riverside California, a federal judge approved the FBI's request to postpone the court hearing until April 5 that was supposedly scheduled for Tuesday to determine whether the newly revealed method will help unlock Syed Rizwan Farook's encrypted iPhone without the assistance of Apple.
Authorities perceived that there was no way to break into the phone of the shooter, unless Apple was willing to assist in building a backdoor that would disable the security protection. Where last month, the Justice Department obtained a court order demanding Apple to build the software, but the company debated the issue stating that it would be a security risk for everyone.
Monday's announcement showed the unknown third party on Sunday, two days before the hearing, demonstrated an alternative to unlocking the iPhone. The result of an outside party that found a new way into the phone without Apple's help, drew skepticism to every heated court filing that was put forward by the Justice Department in the last month.
A professor and computer security expert at the University of Pennsylvania Matt Blaze said, "From a purely technical perspective, one of the most fragile parts of the government's case is the claim that Apple's help is required to unlock the phone. Many in the technical community have been skeptical that this is true, especially given the government's considerable resources."
FBI Director James Comey gave a sworn testimony earlier this month to the House Judiciary Committee stating that federal agency even asked the National Security Agency for assistance that was not much of a help.
The fact remains that Apple's encryption battle could further continue, and the bitter conflict between Apple and law enforcement is a result of a cease fire. Although the company's security measure were enough to delay the federal investigators for a few month, this would give time to authorities to demonstrate whether the new method is viable without compromising data on the phone. And if so, it would eliminate the assistance from Apple completely.
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