Apple To DOJ: You Missed Your Chance By Changing Terrorist iCloud Password

Apple is saying the Department of Justice made a big mistake in its handling of the San Bernardino shooter‘s iPhone by changing the password to the device’s iCloud account.

According to senior Apple executives, the DOJ had a valuable opportunity to get into the terrorist’s iCloud account, but for some reason, investigators changed the password.

They said the iCloud password was changed hours after the shooting, preventing a potential iCloud backup that may have revealed further information about the suspect. The phone was actually issued to the shooter, Syed Farook, by his employer and belonged to San Bernardino county. According to senior Apple executives, in an attempt to access the device soon after the attack, someone at the county changed the iCloud ID password, preventing a potential iCloud backup. Apple engineers would have tried to find a known Wi-Fi network that the suspect had utilized. That’s because the phone would’ve backed up to iCloud when it was on a trusted network and plugged in — assuming the password hadn’t been changed.
h/t yourcentralvalley

The Department of Justice acknowledged that the password had been changed.