FBI Teams Up With China To Hack Apple iPhone
After a protracted legal and public relations battle, the FBI has announced that it may not need Apple’s cooperation to break the encryption of the iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters. The FBI has reportedly gained the assistance of a mysterious “third party” in accessing the phone, but the agency has not revealed further details until now.
At a press conference at the FBI headquarters this morning, Director of the FBI James Comey announced that “FBI now has the capability to access the data on the San Bernardino phone thanks to the crucial help of our new partner, China.”
According to Mr. Comey, the FBI will work with PLA Unit 61398, the Chinese government’s premier hacking group known for stealing trade secrets from countless American corporations over the last decade.
“It was the darndest thing. I was just emailing my deputy director about finding someone to help us get into that phone,” Comey explained. “The next thing I know, I got an email reply from the PLA!”
The FBI’s original plans called for assistance from the NSA, but the spy agency had been “too busy spying on innocent Americans to spare any resources for one more in particular,” forcing the FBI to seek help from their Chinese counterparts.
The FBI expects that the data retrieval process should not take much effort. “The Chinese broke Apple’s encryption years ago,” said Mr. Comey. “They said I just need to run a program they emailed me called ‘iPhoneDecrypter.exe.’”
