FBI paid more than $1.3 million to hack into San Bernardino shooter iPhone

FBI Director Comey explained at the Aspen Security Forum in London that the Agency paid more than $1.3 million to break into San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.

FBI Director Comey explained at the Aspen Security Forum in London that the Agency paid more than $1.3 million to break into San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone

The FBI vs Apple saga continues to be in the headlines, now media are sharing the news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid more than $1.3 million to break into San Bernardino shooter‘s iPhone.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey revealed the news on Thursday, the sum paid is very important as confirmed by the Reuters.

“Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Thursday the agency paid more to get into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters than he will make in the remaining seven years and four months he has in his job.” states the Reuters.

“According to figures from the FBI and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Comey’s annual salary as of January 2015 was $183,300. Without a raise or bonus, Comey will make $1.34 million over the remainder of his job.”

Experts immediately speculated that the law enforcement agency paid the largest-ever fee for a hacking activity. In the past, I also reported news about the fee requested by the zero-day vendor Zerodium to hack into Apple mobile devices, according to the media a $1 million fee was paid by the US Government to the company.

The hack of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone was more expensive of the above fee.

“A lot. More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months for sure,” Comey said. “But it was, in my view, worth it.” Comey explained at the Aspen Security Forum in London.

Last month, the US DoJ announced it had unlocked the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone with the support of an unidentified third party and closed its legal battle against Apple Inc.

The El Reg published a filing made to the Central California District Court that confirmed prosecutors successfully extracted data from the iPhone.

“The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc. mandated by the court’s order compelling Apple Inc. to assist agents in search, dated February 16, 2016,” reads the DoJ request.

The DoJ hasn’t provided details on the procedure used to break into the San Bernardino shooter ‘s iPhone, nor revealed the name of the firm that supported the FBI in the operation.

Comey confirmed that the hack only works on the San Bernardino phone and on other 5C iPhones running IOS 9 software.

Not so bad considering that there are about 16 million 5C iPhones in use in the United States, 84% of iOS devices run iOS 9 software.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, hacking)

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