Apple’s refusal to build a backdoor kicked off a legal 3-month legal battle that only ended when it became public that the FBI’s success in unlocking the phone. The battle was supposed to determine the future of encryption.
In the FBI vs Apple, a judge ordered Apple to comply with the FBI demand to unlock the phone. Apple fought the judge’s order. CEO Tim Cook claimed the order was “an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers.”
Azimuth Security found a way to bypass the passcode limitations without setting off the auto-erase. But it took weeks to create the system bypass. And it just took a few hours to figure out the code to open the phone.
Azimuth Security Gained Access to Phone
Reports are that two Azimuth Security experts created the exploit chains underpinning the Condor Hack. Azimuth founder Mark Dowd, 41, an Australian coder has been described as someone who “can pretty much look at a computer and break into it.”
His top researcher David Wang has been working with computers since he was 8. He dropped out of Yale. And won a Pwnie Award at the age of 27. The Pwnie is known internationally as the “Oscar for Hackers.” Wang is an expert at “jailbreaking” phones.
