On the eve of its scheduled legal showdown in a California court with Apple Inc., the Justice Department's request for a postponement was granted Monday by a federal judge as the FBI tests a new method for unlocking the iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook.
As reported by USA Today, Justice lawyers claimed in court documents filed late Monday that an undisclosed "outside party'' demonstrated a "possible method'' to the FBI for unlocking Farook's phone, recovered in the aftermath of the December massacre that left 14 dead.
"Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone,'' Justice lawyers said in the three-page filing. "If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc.''
The government, which earlier informed Apple of its request, said it would file a status report with the court by April 5.
"Our top priority has always been gaining access into the phone used by the terrorist in San Bernardino,'' Justice spokeswoman Melanie Newman said Monday. "With this goal in mind, the FBI has continued in its efforts to gain access to the phone without Apple’s assistance, even during a month-long period of litigation with the company. As a result of these efforts, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI this past weekend a possible method for unlocking the phone.
" We must first test this method to ensure that it doesn’t destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic,'' Newman said. "That is why we asked the court to give us some time to explore this option. If this solution works, it will allow us to search the phone and continue our investigation into the terrorist attack that killed 14 people and wounded 22 people.''
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