Cellebrite, the company that is believed to have been hired by the FBI and successfully unlocked the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone 5c, says that it is “optimistic” that it will also be able to access a locked iPhone 6.
Earlier this year, Italian architect Leonardo Fabbretti met with the company last week to see whether it could help gain access to his dead son’s iPhone. Before his death from bone cancer, 13-year-old Dama Fabbretti had added his father’s thumbprint to allow him access – but the phone required the passcode after a restart, and his father didn’t know the code.
Apple had told him it was impossible to access the iPhone without the passcode, but Fabretti stated that Cellebrite has already made progress.
“I just came back from their office in northern Italy. The meeting went well. They were able to download the directories with the iPhone’s content, but there is still work to be done in order to access the files,” Fabbretti said.
The downloaded files contained months of photos and conversations the father wanted to see, including videos taken three days before his son died.
Fabbretti said that the company had told him it was ‘optimistic’ about its chances of accessing the files. Both Apple and Cellebrite refused to comment on the case.
Last week, the FBI stated that the method used to unlock the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone 5c would not work on the iPhone 5s or later, which appeared to confirm earlier speculation that the passcode bypass would not work on models with a Secure Enclave. If Cellebrite has a new method that successfully breaks into the iPhone 6, that will leave Apple with further work to do to secure future iPhones.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.