Official: Justice Department to withdraw legal action against Apple

Kevin Johnson, USA Today:

The Justice Department is expected to withdraw from its legal action against Apple Inc., as soon as today, as an outside method to bypass the locking function of a San Bernardino terrorist’s phone has proved successful, a federal law enforcement official said Monday.

The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said the method brought to the FBI earlier this month by an unidentified entity allows investigators to crack the security function without erasing contents of the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the December mass shooting that left 14 dead.

So the way I read this, the FBI got help and was able to crack the San Bernardino iPhone. Apple’s help no longer required. In this case.

Think this is over? No. One interesting question is, will the FBI explain to Apple how the iPhone was cracked, if indeed this story is true.