In the wake of the hack undertaken on the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, Apple is set to publicize a fix for the FBI decryption hack.
Following the lengthy court battle between Apple and the FBI, and the FBI’s ability to access the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, Apple is set to publicize a fix for the FBI decryption hack which would undo the agency’s ability to access private iPhones.
The Apple vs FBI court case first began when Apple refused to comply with instructions to assist the agency in accessing the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, with CEO Tim Cook citing that allowing access to even one iPhone would set a “dangerous precedent”.
Read: Tim Cook blasts FBI request for iPhone access
The court case came to an abrupt end when the FBI proceed to enlist the help of an Israeli firm to access the iPhone instead; a move which ended in success and the FBI’s subsequent withdrawal from the court proceedings.
Apple’s engineers are allegedly racing to fix the issue, and are set to announce a patch once the FBI’s method of decryption has been found.
An Apple engineer, speaking to Reuters anonymously, stated that “œflaws of this nature have a pretty short life cycle. Most of these things do come to light.“
Apple will likely publicize the update to temper consumer concerns over the ability of third parties to access private information on their devices.
However, such an update will not be without consequence, and would likely bring the debate between state access and the privacy of information back into the spotlight.
Previously, Tim Cook’s calls for support have been answered by Google’s Sundar Pichai, as well as Facebook and Twitter. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and US President Barack Obama have taken a middle ground, appealing to both Apple and the FBI to reach a compromise.
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