Authorities have not discovered any useful information thus far on the iPhone 5c used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, according to a CBS News report.
The FBI believed the device might contain information related to other terrorist cell contacts or plans for other attacks. Farook's locked iPhone set off a heated legal battle between the FBI and Apple -- and played center stage in a national discussion over encryption technologies and privacy.
Last week, anonymous sources told the Washington Post that the agency used professional hackers who specialize in exploiting zero day vulnerabilities to unlock Farook's iPhone. The report contradicts earlier reports that the FBI likely used Israeli forensics firm Cellebrite, to unlock the iPhone.
A week earlier, FBI direct James Comey said the agency was undecided about whether it would share with Apple how it unlocked the iPhone used in the shooting attack. “If we tell Apple, they're going to fix it and we're back where we started,” he said.
Earlier this month, Jonathan Zdziarski, a security researcher who created iOS forensics tools that are now used by the FBI penned an open letter calling on the agency to share with Apple how it hacked the iPhone. “Forensics tools like the one the FBI is in possession of are extremely powerful, and in spite of even your best efforts, sir, my experience suggests that yours will no doubt be used for questionable uses just as mine were.”
