JPMorgan Believes FBI 'Likely' Had Access Options To San Bernardino's iPhone That Would Bypass Its Security

On Tuesday, JPMorgan issued a company note on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) amid the ongoing discussions between Apple and the FBI regarding the security encryption of iPhones and national security precautions. Currently, analysts at JPMorgan rate Apple as Overweight, while a price target is unavailable.

Rod Hall, an analyst at JPMorgan, wrote, “We believe that the FBI has likely had physical access to it that would bypass the phone’s security (decapping the chips and thus circumventing Apple’s security by directly reading the information stored on the phone) [...]”

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Recently, the United States Justice Department issued a statement saying that they may no longer require Apple’s assistance in opening an iPhone used by the San Bernardino gunman in the terrorist attacks. Apple has been adamant in their opposition of a court order to break the encryption of the iPhone, saying that it could compromise the privacy of all their customers while weakening the strength of their device’s security.

In an article contributed by Katie Benner of the New York Times, she concluded that if the FBI is able to decrypt the iPhone on their own it would be a “mixed blessing.” Although the FBI will receive the information that they are looking for regarding the attacks, the move may suspend their back and forth discussions with Apple regarding the assistance of the company in decoding iPhones in future cases that are deemed important to national security.

Apple last traded at $105.91.

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