The iPhone 5s handset at the center of the case belonged to Jun Feng, a suspect in a drug investigation in NY.
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To a closely watched case the letter marked a sudden end and the Justice Department had been appealing a ruling by the federal magistrate judge by holding that he may not force Apple to assist the authorities. Prosecutors further explained that the passcode of the iPhone was provided to the authorities by an unidentified individual on Thursday. Government lawyer’s wrote that a source they did not identify provided the password to Feng’s iPhone, enabling investigators to key in the code by hand and acces the unit’s data.
According to CNET, on Friday night, the government filed a letter to the court in Brooklyn, New York, informing that it does not actually need Cupertino’s help to unlock the iPhone used by a known drug dealer.
Previously, the government had refused to yield in the NY case even after withdrawing a similar order in San Bernardino, which would have forced Apple to build software capable of bypassing the iPhone’s security features. That is said to be suggesting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has paid the biggest ever revealed fee in order to hack a job, easily beating the 1 million dollars paid by the USA information security firm Zerodium for breaking into phones.
“Before the government demands that Apple do the work of law enforcement, the government must offer evidence that it has performed an “exhaustive search” and that it remains unable to obtain the data it seeks without Apple’s assistance”, the company argued in court papers. In a legal filing last week, Apple’s attorneys suggested the government just ask the defendant himself. But contrary to the San Bernardino iPhone case, a federal judge denied the government’s application submitted to the court back in March. Mr. Feng pleaded guilty previous year, but both sides agreed the legal dispute surrounding the phone still needs to be resolved.
“A comparison between the NY and the San Bernardino case isn’t, well, apples to apples”.
An Apple spokesman declined comment. Initially, Feng told investigators that he did not remember the phone’s passcode, but according to individuals close to the matter, Feng is the individual who provided the passcode.
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