The Apple-FBI case has come to an end far sooner than expected, after the US government successfully hacked the iPhone of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook without the help of Apple.

According to court records, the US government have now dropped the lawsuit against Apple, effectively ending the six-week battle that was set to become a landmark case.

“The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc,” the government said.

The US government did not confirm whether it would be sharing the method with Apple, thereby allowing them to patch the security flaw, only confirming that the technique works on the iPhone model Farook used – the iPhone 5c – and that the solution came from a source outside the government.

The government filed a case against Apple on February 16th, after Apple refused to help hack the iPhone. Apple were then backed by almost every major Silicon Valley company, who stood by Apple’s stance on protecting the privacy of its customers.

Farook and his wife killed 14 people at an office party in San Bernardino, California, in December, before being shot dead by the police. The FBI said it needed access to the phone’s data to determine if the attackers worked with others, were targeting others and were supported by others.

Miranda Wadham on 29/03/2016