FBI Director: iPhone Hack Works on ‘Narrow Slice of Phones'

James Comey said an unidentified third-party developed a technique to get data from the iPhone and the government "purchased" the tool

The tool used to break into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone will only work on a "narrow slice of phones," and almost certainly does not work on the iPhone 5s or 6, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday, according to NBC News.

Speaking at Kenyon College in Ohio, Comey said the government "purchased" a tool, developed by an unidentified third-party, that allowed them to crack the iPhone 5c running iOS 9 used by Syed Farook.

Comey said the government has not decided whether it will tell Apple what the flaw is, leaving the company with a very public hole in its security.

"That's an interesting conversation, because we tell Apple, they're going to fix it, and then we're back where we started from," Comey said.

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