An iPhone seized from perpetrators of the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., may contain evidence of a “dormant cyber pathogen” that poses a threat to residents of the county, the district attorney’s office claimed in a filing late Thursday.
“The seized iPhone may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino County’s infrastructure … and poses a continuing threat to the citizens of San Bernardino County,” the district attorney wrote.
The device, provided to Syed Rizwan Farook through his employment with San Bernardino County, is owned by the government and connected to the county’s computer network. The filing didn’t make clear exactly what was meant by the term “cyber pathogen” or quantify how many lives were at risk.
“The world has never seen what he is describing coming from an iPhone,” Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone forensics expert, said in an interview with Ars Technica.
“I would expect, I would demand, in order to make that statement at all, he should make some kind of proof,” added Zdziarski, who said the “pathogen” was equivalent to suggesting that a “magical unicorn might exist on this phone.”
Last month, a federal judge ordered Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation break into the phone. Officials have had difficulty explaining why that was necessary, and FBI Director James Comey acknowledged there is a “reasonably good chance that there is nothing of any value on the phone.”
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The latest revelation suggests officials have either been in the dark on the issue, or have been withholding information. The district attorney’s office has declined to comment further until the court accepts the latest filing.
