FBI confirms it won’t tell Apple how it unlocked terrorist’s iPhone

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed Wednesday that it will not tell Apple how the agency hacked an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

In a statement, Amy Hess, assistant director for science and technology, said the FBI will not submit technical details to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP), a policy that permits government agencies to disclose acquired software vulnerabilities to vendors.

Hess said that the FBI does not have enough information about the vulnerability to put it through the VEP.

“The FBI purchased the method from an outside party so that we could unlock the San Bernardino device,” Hess said. “We did not, however, purchase the rights to technical details about how the method functions, or the nature and extent of any vulnerability upon which the method may rely in order to operate. As a result, currently we do not have enough technical information about any vulnerability that would permit any meaningful review under the VEP process.”

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