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FBI Paid More Than $1 Million For San Bernardino 'Hack' (cbsnews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the right-tool-for-the-job dept.

An anonymous reader writes: FBI Director James Comey has indicated the bureau paid more than $1 million for the method used to hack into the iPhone 5c belonging to one of the San Bernadino shooters. How did he allude to it? He said the FBI paid more money than he would make in the time left as FBI director. He makes just under $200,000 a year based on public files and has over seven years left on his term. "How much did you pay for this software?" Comey was asked. "A lot," he said. "More -- let's see. More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months, for sure," Comey said. "And so it's a -- but it was in my view, worth it, because it's a tool that helps us with a 5c running iOS 9, which is a bit of a corner case, increasingly as the devices develop and move on to the 6 and 6s and whatnot and iOS's change, but I think it's very, very important that we get into that device." Comey said.

2 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How many hackers? by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the government. When you're used to $500 hammers, a $1 million phone hack hardly matters. Part of the cost could simply be that whatever was done would make it obvious how the hack works so it's really only a one-time sale for the person doing the hacking.

    But considering that the hacked device yielded no useful information, I think the only statement that the FBI has made is that they're fucking idiots.

  2. Like the FBI cares... by s.petry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's OUR money they paid, not THEIR money. The FBI gets it's money from tax payers, and exists because of tax payers.

    This is the same issue with all of Government really. The Government is always better off when they are not accountable for spending. I just wonder if they will use this as ammo to convince tax payers that we need a bigger GAO to investigate this incident and others just like it.

    Before you say it, Anarchy is not the only or even best alternative. There is a whole lot of space between anarchy and our current overly bloated Government.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.