Just weeks after explaining in detail how it’s impossible for anyone but Apple to unlock iOS devices, it looks like the FBI is on a streak: the Bureau is now helping an Arkansas prosecutor unlock an iPhone and iPod related to a homicide investigation.
As the AP reports, Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland is receiving help from the FBI in unlocking two iOS devices related to a homicide case. Two teenagers, Hunter Drexler and Justin Staton, are accused of killing Robert and Patricia Cogdell at their house in Conway back in July.
Prosecutors believe there may be evidence on an iPhone and iPod owned by the teenagers, although defense lawyers are apparently “not concerned” with anything on the devices.
Either way, the FBI may not be able to gain access. The method used to hack the San Bernardino iPhone 5c has not been disclosed, but it’s unlikely to work on newer iPhones, or those with more complex passcodes. Still, at least the FBI having a go is better than using a centuries-old law to compel Apple to write the “software equivalent of cancer”.
[ABC News]