FBI reportedly paid at least $1 million to hack into San Bernardino shooter's phone
At a security conference in London on Thursday, FBI Director James B. Comey said the bureau "paid a lot" to unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, "but it was worth it."
Comey did not share the exact cost, just that it was more than what he will make in the remaining seven years of his 10-year contract as director, the Los Angeles Times reports. Comey earns a yearly salary of $183,000. The FBI has not revealed the name of the third party it hired to help them hack into the phone, and a law enforcement official has said the FBI did not make any major discoveries on the device.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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