By Scott Graham, From The Recorder

In the showdown between the government and Apple Inc. over iPhone encryption, the government has blinked.

Less than 24 hours before a U.S. magistrate judge in Riverside was set to hear argument on whether the government could compel Apple to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone, Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker moved to postpone the hearing.

On Sunday, an unidentified third party showed the FBI “a possible method for unlocking” the phone belonging to Sayed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife shot and killed 14 and injured 22 in San Bernardino on Dec. 2.

The government was seeking to compel Apple to develop computer code that would unlock the phone without activating iPhone features that would delete data stored on it or make recovering it too time-consuming.

“Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone,” states the motion, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Wilkinson. “If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. … set forth in the All Writs Act order in this case.”

Pym granted the continuance Monday and stayed her order requiring Apple to comply. The government said it would file a status report April 5.

The development does not come as a complete surprise, though the timing does. In declarations filed in the case the FBI made clear that it was part way to finding its own solution. “Code already exists that will bypass the auto-erase and time-delay functions and permit electronic submission of passcodes, but would need to be updated and modified for newer operating systems,” Stacey Perino, the head of the FBI’s cryptologic and electronic analysis unit, stated in a March 9 declaration. “That software, however, cannot run on [Farook’s phone] without Apple’s ‘signature.’ “

Perino’s declaration identified forensic company Cellebrite as one of the providers of the partial solution, but the government did not say Monday who provided the possible final step. It said only that publicity surrounding the case caused “others outside the U.S. government” to offer assistance.

Apple probably isn’t surprised by the news either. “I believe that Apple’s iOS platform is the most-attacked software platform in existence,” Apple’s head of mobile privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, said in his own declaration. “Each time Apple closes one vulnerability, attackers work to find another. This is a constant and never-ending battle.”

Apple attorneys said late Monday that they don’t know what solution the government found or whom it’s working with. Apple has agreed from the beginning to provide the government with ideas for finding the data it’s seeking without compromising the phone’s security. Until Monday the government’s position was that the data was irretrievable without Apple’s help.

Pym had been scheduled to hear argument at 1 p.m. She also had planned to let Apple and DOJ lawyers cross-examine each others’ technical experts.

Apple has argued that creating what it calls a “back door” through its security technology would force it to destroy what it has spent years building—a phone whose data is 100 percent secure from hackers, not to mention government intrusion. If Apple were compelled to hack its own phone, there would be nothing to prevent the government from compelling the company to activate an iPhone microphone or camera to surreptitiously record its owner. Apple and a U.S. magistrate judge in New York who ruled on a similar request last month compares the government’s request to requiring pharmaceutical companies to formulate lethal-injection drugs against their will.

The government vehemently contests Apple’s contention that it’s asking the company to build a back door to all iPhones, because Apple’s security system is unique to each user’s phone. It says the court has authority under the All Writs Act to compel Apple to assist with a criminal investigation pursuant to its search warrant for the contents of Farook’s phone. Government lawyers have characterized Apple as willing to thwart a terrorism investigation to protect its business model and differentiate itself from competitors who comply with lawful government searches.

For more on this story go to: http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202752734258/Feds-Say-Never-Mind-on-Forcing-Apple-to-Hack-Phone#ixzz43e68arqK