The FBI And Cellebrite, The Israeli Company Reportedly Hacking The iPhone, Are Old Friends With $2 Million Worth Of Memories

For months, the FBI has portrayed its case against Apple Inc. as one of desperation: that it had exhausted every known means to crack the iPhone 5C carried by Syed Farook on Dec. 2 when he and wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

And yet the “outside vendor” the FBI is reported to be working with to break the encryption on the phone has long relationships with many branches of the U.S. government, including the FBI.