An Israeli firm volunteered to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation hack into an Apple iPhone, Tel Aviv’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper claimed on Tuesday.
Unnamed experts pegged forensic software company Cellebrite as the “outside party” that U.S. officials said had a way to break into the device, the publication reported. The Justice Department had sought to force Apple to help it open an iPhone used by perpetrators of December’s terrorist attack in California.
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However, the department asked to postpone a court hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday, saying that an unnamed party had come forward with a way to hack the device without Apple’s assistance.
“We must first test this method to ensure that it doesn’t destroy the data on the phone,” a Justice Department spokesman said about the prospect. “That is why we asked the court to give us some time to explore this option.”
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Numerous experts have publicly suggested several ways to hack the phone over the past month, but the FBI has remained generally oblivious to that advice, suggesting it does not have enough expertise within the agency to act on the methods being advised.
