Feds Can't Unlock Newer iPhone Models Says Director

FBI Director James Comey shared with Kenyon University that their method for unlocking iPhones don't work on most models.

In a speech at Kenyon University, Comey said that their tools don't work on the 5s, to begin with, so their new tool works only on a short list of phones. He did not elaborate on why the new method did not work on the later models, but it's likely that the Secure Enclave protection chips that were implemented in the 5s' A7 chip which was present in all subsequent iPhones. If this is the case, then the FBI's new method will be less effective.

By September 2015, The Verge noted that a quarter of American iPhone users are already using models without the Secure Enclave.

In a request from Apple that the Bureau unveil its method for unlocking phones, Comey was non-committal, but insisted that he's not worried about the access that they do have. Since the Bureau's reveal of its success last month, many speculated that their method was centered about a certain "IP box" that appeared last spring.

The tool only retailed for less than $300, but when it is latched over a susceptible iPhone power circuitm it can enter PINs over USBs. When a wrong guess is detected, the tool then cuts power to the phone's logic board before the guess is even recorded, thus defeating the 10-try limit that phones usually have.

Apple Insider noted that Apple is believed to have covered the loophole in their newer models - the IP box works on iOS 8.1.1, but beginning with the iPhone 5C, they have been running with the iOS 9, rendering the method ineffective, especially considering that the Secure Enclave rendering is so secure, such attack on phones have now been rendered useless.

Still, there has been no news as to how the FBI can check iPhones nowadays - whether they have a new method for unlocking them, or if they purchased a device from a company that already knows how to get into the newer models by discovering a new flaw in the later software.