Judge orders Apple to hack into iPhone owned by San Bernardino killer

A judge has ordered Apple to ‘hack' into a phone owned by one of the San Beardino mass murderers, in a case with world-changing security implications.

Apple must provide ‘reasonable technical assistance' to FBI investigators seeking to unlock the data on an iPhone 5C that had been owned by Syed Rizwan Farook, Judge Sheri Pym of U.S. District Court in Los Angeles said in a ruling.

Apple has published an open letter saying that the move, ‘threatens the security of our customers'.

In previous cases, Apple has said that it is ‘impossible' to unlock phones running iOS 8 or higher – and claims that the FBI agents want Apple to create a ‘backdoor' into their own operating system.

Technology experts and privacy advocates say that forcing U.S. companies to weaken their encryption would make private data vulnerable to hackers and undermine the security of the Inteet.

Farook and his wife killed 14 people and injured 22 others in a shootout on December 2. The two were killed in a shootout with police.

The FBI has been investigating the couple's potential communications with the Islamic State and other militant groups and treating the case as an incident of domestic terrorism.

Syed Rizwan Farook (Califoia Department of Motor Vehicles via AP)

‘Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the govement in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily,' prosecutors said.

U.S. govement officials have waed that the expanded use of strong encryption is hindering national security and criminal investigations.

Apple says, ‘We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.'

‘Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession.
‘The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the govement may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.'