FBI paid hackers who cracked the San Bernardino iPhone, report says

If you're the FBI, and Apple refuses to assist you, how do you crack open a locked iPhone? Apparently, the same way as everyone else (provided you have sufficient funds): You pay professional hackers to do it. 

According to a report by the Washington Post, published Tuesday, the agency managed to crack open the iPhone 5C that was used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook by paying a one-time fee to an unnamed group of hackers. 

The hackers defeated the device's security by using a previously undiscovered security flaw in the iPhone's software. This flaw was then used to create a hardware device that helped open the iPhone without triggering the security feature that erases all of its data after too many unsuccessful login attempts.  Read more...