The iPhone at the center of the months-long battle between Apple and the FBI contained nothing of interest, according to a recent report.
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The information was disclosed to CBS News by an unnamed source late on Wednesday. The iPhone 5c, which had been used by the perpetrators of December’s terrorist attack in California, served as the focal point of national controversy for more than a month. The FBI had sought to compel Apple’s assistance in accessing the contents of the device before finally discovering a way to hack it without aid from the company.
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Security officials have fretted that end-to-end encryption, like that offered by Apple’s iMessage or several smartphone applications, could be used by terrorists to communicate without fear of surveillance. Since that still does not protect a device after it’s been compromised, the report indicates that the terrorists probably did not rely on encryption to conduct their affairs.
The FBI is debating whether to disclose the software vulnerability it discovered to Apple. Statements made by FBI Director James Comey have suggested its utility is extremely limited in scope, applicable only to the older 5c line of Apple devices.
