On Thursday, James Comey the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that in order to into the San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone, they had paid an amount that was more than what the FIB director would have earned if he had even worked for 7 years and 4 months in his job.
As per what was shown by the US Office of Management and Budget and FBI, The annual salary of Comey was $183,300 as of January 2015. Over the remainder of his job, Comey would make around $1.34 million without any bonus or raise. This has also suggested that for a hacking job, this was the largest publicized fee that was paid by the FBI. This also easily surpasses the amount of $1 million that was paid to Zerodium the US Information Security company so that they could get into the phones.
While speaking in London at the Aspen Security Forum, a moderator had asked Comey about the amount that was paid by the FBI for the software that was used to break into the iPhone eventually. In reply, Comey stated they had paid a lot more than what he would make for the 7 years and 4 months of his job at least, however, he felt that it was worth it.
In March, the Justice Department had stated that the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter’s had been unlocked using the help of a third party that was not identified as well as dropped the case that was filed by them against Apple Inc. This resulted in a broader fight which was unresolved over encryption even though the high stakes legal clash had ended. He event on to say that the software that was used by the FBI on the iPhone of the San Bernardino case will also be used on other iPhones5C that use the iOS9 software to run.
