Report: FBI paid hackers crack San Bernardino iPhone


Ellen Nakashima for The Washington Post:

The bureau in this case did not need the services of the Israeli firm Cellebrite, as some earlier reports had suggested, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government now has to weigh whether to disclose the flaws to Apple, a decision that probably will be made by a White House-led group.

The people who helped the U.S. government come from the sometimes shadowy world of hackers and security researchers who profit from finding flaws in companies' software or systems.

That's an interesting turn. The FBI claims the exploit is specific to the iPhone 5c running iOS 9. While Apple will want to patch the flaw if it can, it's likely already resolved the weakness with newer hardware in the iPhone 5s and newer.