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FBI paid over $1.34M for hack into San Bernardino iPhone, agency's director says

The FBI paid more than $1.34 million to hack into the iPhone 5c of dead San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, agency director James Comey admitted on Thursday.

Speaking in front of the Aspen Security Forum in London, Comey declined to offer a precise figure, but said that it would be "more than I will make in the remainder of this job," according to Reuters. The director added that he will be with the FBI for at least another seven years and four months. As of January 2015, his annual salary was $183,300.

He described the expense as "worth it" in his view, noting that the FBI will be able to use the technique on other iPhone 5c models running iOS 9. Until this year the FBI had never paid more than $1 million for access to a hacking technique.

What kind of hack the FBI used on Farook's phone is still a secret, and something Apple has been working to discover. In withdrawing its court order against Apple, the U.S. Department of Justice did say it received help from a third party, also undisclosed.

Reports initially suggested that forensics firm Cellebrite was responsible. Later however sources for the Washington Post suggested it was a hacker group, paid a one-time fee in exchange for an undocumented exploit.

CNN sources have claimed that even though the FBI didn't find any new information on Farook's phone, this in itself proved useful, since it seemed to support a belief that Farook and his wife didn't contact any outside conspirators.



34 Comments

chrispoe 14 Years · 80 comments

Waste of money!

3 Likes · 0 Dislikes
robin huber 23 Years · 4029 comments

Priorities? A lot for an unessential shot in the dark. With mad money like that, Congress needs to take a hard look at the FBI budget. 

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
wood1208 11 Years · 2940 comments

$1M, $2M $10Millions, what's a difference ? All our tax dollars. FBI don't have to go earn them. If they can protect us better than all worth it.

VisualSeed 9 Years · 217 comments

wood1208 said:
$1M, $2M $10Millions, what's a difference ? All our tax dollars. FBI don't have to go earn them. If they can protect us better than all worth it.

But they obviously can't protect us better. The number one function of our society is not crime (terrorism) prevention. $1.4M in tax payer money could be used for many different things much more beneficial to society than to try to one up someone in a pissing contest. 

15 Likes · 0 Dislikes
sockrolid 15 Years · 2789 comments

iPhone 5C: $549
FBI hack: $1.34 million
Un-crackable Secure Enclave: priceless.

12 Likes · 0 Dislikes