After successfully cracking the San Bernardino iPhone without Apple’s help, the FBI is now said to be testing to determine whether the technique can be used to unlock other versions and models of the iPhone, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Apple is still trying to identify the security flaw that allowed the FBI to gain access to the iPhone in question, and the FBI has not been forthcoming with any details about the technique that was used or even what it found on the iPhone, and this latest report suggests that it may take officials “many more months” to decide what to do with these new capabilities.
The FBI and Department of Justice will reportedly be going through deliberations, overseen by the White House, as to whether the newly discovered fault should be disclosed, either publicly, directly in confidence to Apple, or whether the vulnerability should be kept secret so government agents can continue to use it, in which case the government would still need to decide whether local law enforcement agencies should be given information about the vulnerability for their own use.
Several current and former government officials have also indicated to the WSJ that the process could be more complicated in this case due to Apple’s unwillingness to help the government unlock iPhones at the cost of creating new weaknesses in their technology.
