The FBI was able to unlock iPhone thanks to an Australian company

On April 14, 2021 (local time), the Washington Post reported: "FBI was able to unlock the iPhone lock of the suspect in the shooting because of the support of Australian security companies."

There was a shooting in San Bernardino, California in December 2015. FBI, who is in charge of investigating the case, tried to confirm the iPhone5c data held by the prisoner, but hindered the function that "the data will be deleted after 10 password errors" and could not be unlocked. Therefore, we made a request to Apple to unlock (to develop and provide unlocking tools) through the US government, but the Apple refused to regard it as a security threat.

From then on, the dispute between FBI and Apple over unlocking the iPhone will continue to this day. However, the "dispute over iPhone in the San Bernardino shooting" will end abruptly in April 2016. FBI successfully unlocked iPhone with the help of a third party. However, it was not clear who the collaborator was in the publication at that time.

According to the Washington Post, the anonymous leak showed that the third party who supported unlocking was an Australian Internet security company called Azimuth Security. The company, a Sydney-based company, represents Mark Daud, IBM's lead researcher in charge of Internet security systems. Farnder John McDonald's (John McDonald's) is also a former IBM security researcher.

Azimuth discovered a vulnerability in the software module used in the iPhone charging cable connection and invaded the main processor by poking its weakness. It can be said that the upper limit of password input has been successfully avoided. After that, if you care about the upper limit, enter the password repeatedly and unlock it.

It is worth mentioning that David Wan, a researcher at Azimuth and who also contributed to the unlock, is the character who created the virtual iPhone that perfectly copied iOS in the past. Corellium, which Mr. Wang founded to develop and sell virtual iPhone, has been sued by Apple and is in the midst of a court dispute (Wang handed down a favorable verdict in December). Azimuth unlocked iPhone and created a virtual iPhone, which is a thorn in Apple's side.

Source:The Washington Post