DOXXED

How an Australian Hacking Firm Helped the Feds Unlock the San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone

After unsuccessfully trying to force Apple to help them access Syed Farook’s phone, the FBI turned to Azimuth Security, a small hacking company.

A Washington Post report details how the FBI finally unlocked San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone—with help from an obscure Australian cybersecurity firm called Azimuth. The feds turned to the small firm following a court battle with Apple, in which the FBI sought a court mandate that would both force Apple to unlock the iPhone after the 2015 mass shooting. Lawyers for the tech giant argued that if the mandate were granted, it would establish a legal precedent that would threaten customer privacy. The identity of the hackers hired by the FBI had long been a subject of speculation. Now, it’s come to light that hacking prodigy David Wang, contracted by Azimuth, created an exploit, dubbed “Condor,” that allowed the FBI to bypass the iPhone’s security features. In return, Azimuth received $900,000. However, unlocking Farook’s iPhone failed to produce any useful information for the FBI. In the following months, Apple produced a patch that rendered Condor useless.