FBI Bought $1M iPhone 5C Hack, But Doesn't Know How It Works (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The FBI has no idea how the hack used in unlocking the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone 5C works, but it paid a sum less than $1m for the mechanism, according to a report. Reuters, citing several U.S. government sources, note that the government intelligence agency didn't pay a value over $1.3m for purchasing the hack from professional hackers, as previously reported by many outlets. The technique can also be used as many times as needed without further payments, the report adds. The FBI director, James Comey, said last week that the agency paid more to get into the iPhone 5C than he will make in the remaining seven years and four months he has in his job, suggesting the hack cost more than $1.3m, based on his annual salary.

Comments

Re:Restored from iCloud

[Lab Rat Jason]

Sure you're being funny, but that actually is a serious concern here: On one hand, is it forensically legitimate if they can't explain how they got the evidence? (and for that matter does the FBI even CARE about keeping it legal anymore), and on the other hand, does the FBI even know if the wool is being pulled over their eyes if they don't know how it works???

Finally, I seriously doubt they took the phone outside of an FBI facility to perform the hack, which implies that someone was brought in to the FBI facility to perform the hack... do you really think they let that person walk out without explaining how they did it? You're telling me they didn't search the hackers laptop?

It all sounds a little too implausible for me.

William Gibson was prescient

[mileshigh]

Reminds me of scenes from Gibson's Neuromancer-era books where people could illicitly buy "ice" to penetrate a particular type of target. Ice for hard targets was pricey but very user-friendly: just a particular shape they dropped onto the target in their VR headset and then watched it eat its way in, all without knowing its workings.

Re:William Gibson was prescient

[Tablizer]

How is that different from many patents? The hard part is often experimenting and testing, NOT the construction itself.

For example, Thomas Edison tested thousands of materials before he settled on the best one for his new light bulbs. The actual manufacturing of the filament was relatively mundane.

And as maintenance coders, sometimes we find the solution to a bug is one line of code. Newbie managers then balk at paying so much for changing one line. You then tell them the hard part is finding and knowing which line to change, not changing the line itself.

Why should we believe him?

[Gravis Zero]

Seriously, the FBI and Comey in particular have flat out lied so many times in the past year that I honestly can't think of a reason why anyone should believe the things they say.

Re: Seriously manishs?

[Namarrgon]

This story wasn't cheap, but it can be used as many times as needed without further payments.