Last week I told you that The FBI reportedly paid $1.3 million to unlock an iPhone without Apple's help, the figure being offered by the director of the government agency, James Comey, but it seems that it is not accurate.
Based on new information obtained from the FBI, the amount paid to unlock that iPhone was much lower, without giving the figure, so that money probably covers the unlocking of a variety of mobile terminals, whether they are from Apple, or of other producers.
Although the FBI is in possession of the unlocking method for that iPhone, they do not have the technical information to use it to unlock other terminals, the vulnerability not being available in new devices anyway.
Moreover, not even the director of the FBI knows from whom this method of unlocking Apple products was bought, this information being kept secret even by him, so only certain people inside the government agency know the source.
The FBI paid under $1 million for the technique used to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. The identity of the contractor is so closely held inside the FBI that not even Comey knows who it is, one of the sources said.
Having said that, all this war has led to the spending of public money to take over a software that only works on certain mobile terminals of the Apple company and it remains to be seen if in the future someone could question the merit of this investment.
