U.S. Government Drops Case Against Apple, Claims To Have Gained Access To Locked iPhone

The U.S. government said on Monday that it no longer requires the assistance of Apple Inc. AAPL in gaining access to an iPhone used by a terrorist in the San Bernardino attack. Bloomberg noted that the U.S. Justice Department was approached a week ago by a third party which claimed to be able to help the agency gain access to the locked iPhone. The government issued an update on Monday and said that it "has now successfully accessed the data stored." The government did not provide details on how it managed to access the data on the iPhone. Now that the government has gained access to the iPhone, it no longer requires the services of Apple. Accordingly, the government dropped a legal battle in which Apple may ultimately be forced to unlock the iPhone device. "Our decision to conclude the litigation was based solely on the fact that, with the recent assistance of a third party, we are now able to unlock that iPhone without compromising any information on the phone," Bloomberg quoted Eileen Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, as saying in a statement. "We sought an order compelling Apple to help unlock the phone to fulfill a solemn commitment to the victims of the San Bernardino shooting – that we will not rest until we have fully pursued every investigative lead related to the vicious attack." Apple previously argued that helping the government would mark a dangerous path towards compromising the security for all iPhone users. Shares of Apple were trading lower by 0.18 percent early Tuesday morning.