[Cryptography] Feds say they hired a hardware hacker to crack the San Bernardino phone

[John Levine]

The WaPo says:

The FBI cracked a San Bernardino terrorist’s phone with the help of
professional hackers who discovered and brought to the bureau at least
one previously unknown software flaw, according to people familiar
with the matter. ...

The new information was then used to create a piece of hardware that
helped the FBI to crack the iPhone’s four-digit personal
identification number without triggering a security feature that would
have erased all the data, the individuals said. ...

Even without a new flaw, that suggests something like the plan many
people suggested to make an image of the device's memory and restore it
after each group of PIN guesses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-paid-professional-hackers-one-time-fee-to-crack-san-bernardino-iphone/2016/04/12/5397814a-00de-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html?postshare=9361460507120646&tid=ss_tw

R's,
John