In the ongoing battle of Apple vs. the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday that it may have found an "outside party" to break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists without the computer giant's help.
According to The Press Enterprise, Apple attorneys said Monday that they were not aware that the FBI was still looking at third parties to beat the iPhone's encryption and do not know who the government is working with.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym vacated Tuesday's high-stakes hearing between the Justice Department and Apple at the government's request, according to the newspaper.
"If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc.," the government said of the unnamed party, according to The Press Enterprise. The government stated that it needs to conduct tests to make sure data is not harmed on the phone.
The FBI has been looking for a way to get past the encryption on Syed Rizwan Farook's phone ever since he was involved in the terrorist attack in
San Bernardino, California, in December, The New York Times reported. Apple has strongly opposed the request for its engineers to open Farook's iPhone, citing privacy concerns that sparked a debate over digital privacy and national security.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, attacked a gathering of Farook's co-workers Dec. 2 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, killing 14 and wounding 22. The couple was then killed by police in a shootout hours later.
Farook's iPhone was when authorities searched his mother's car the day after the attack, The Press Enterprise noted.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, addressed the battle with the FBI during the company's products launch at its Cupertino, California, campus Monday, giving no indication that the company would change its
mind about cooperating, according to USA Today.
"For many of us, the iPhone is an extension of ourselves," Cook said. "We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy. We did not expect to be in this position, at odds with our own government."
"But we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers and we owe it to our country. We will not shrink from this responsibility," he continued.
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