FBI can't unlock the San Bernardino shooters' encrypted cellphone

(Image credit: Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images)

last updated 10 February 2016

FBI director James B. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that bureau technicians have been unable to unlock encrypted data on a cellphone that belonged to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, on Dec. 2.

The locked data could help explain why the shooters left a bag with pipe bombs inside the conference room at the Inland Regional Center, whether they planned any additional attacks, or if anyone else knew about their plan beforehand, the Los Angeles Times reports. Comey said that encrypted cellphones and text messaging apps make it difficult for investigators to trace locations or track active plots after they have a suspect's phone. Encryption algorithms scramble the data once a PIN code is set, and many companies say they don't have the capability to unscramble the memory, arguing such capacity would weaken security and privacy, the Times says.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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