Israeli security firm Cellebrite, the company that is widely believed to have aided the FBI in cracking the passcode to unlock an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, is said to be “optimistic” that it can perform the same type of magic on a locked iPhone 6.
CNN reports that 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 doesn’t know the code.
While Apple had told Fabbretti it would be impossible to access the device without the passcode, the man says 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.
Those files contain the months of photos and conversations the dad so desperately wants to see, including a handful of videos taken three days before his son died.
Although Fabbretti said the company told him it was “optimistic” about its chances to unlock the device and access the files, both Cellebrite and Apple have refused to comment on the case.
The FBI revealed last week that the method it used to access the San Bernardino iPhone will not work on iPhone models newer than the iPhone 5c. This includes the iPhone 6 Cellebrite is said to be working on currently.
