FBI drops Apple court case after unlocking terrorist's iPhone
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It's official.
Apple won't have to hack into its own hardware, but only because the FBI can get into an iPhone all by itself.
The high-profile court case between Apple and the US Department of Justice is all but over.
After the Feds revealed they found a way to access the data on the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farooq.
The FBI wanted Apple to provide backdoor access to the phone despite Apple saying this would compromise security across the board.
The Department of Justice canceled last week's hearing saying they needed time to test another way to access the data.
With the help of a still-unnamed third party, the DOJ now says they've successfully found a way in, but they haven't said how.
However they did it, the government has avoided a lengthy court battle with America's largest corporation.
And, it will be tested in court whether the government has the power To compel a company to compromise its own encryption.
Until we find out exactly what they did with the iPhone in question, we won't know what the implications are for Apple's encryption.
You can keep up to date with all the developments on this story on cnet.com.
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