Phone hackers for hire: A peek into the discreet, lucrative business tapped by the FBI

When the FBI paid someone to crack the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, it didn’t just deftly bypass Apple’s objections. It also made the public aware of the business side of hacking—a business that is apparently as lucrative as it is discreet. “The recent argument between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone has likely revealed to the public for the first time that companies who specialize in cracking mobile devices even exist,” said Bill Anderson, chief product officer at OptioLabs, a mobile-security developer.

Everything we learn about the FBI’s hackers makes the situation more intriguing. Initial reports indicated the feds were using the services of Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite to crack open Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone. Since then, aWashington Post report claimed the FBI hired independent professional hackers, who used a zero-day exploit (a vulnerability unknown to Apple). Another April report showed that the FBI is now willing to help local law enforcement agencies around the country crack iPhones they have in evidence.

Though the FBI has remained mum on any specifics, a recent remark by FBI Director James Comey suggested the fee for the hack was well over a million dollars. Most recently, the FBI declined to divulge details to another government program (the Vulnerabilities Equities Process), claiming ignorance of how the hack actually worked. For the full article click here 

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