After the 2015 San Bernardino attack , the FBI recovered the shooter 's iPhone 5C , which belonged to the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health . The FBI recovered iCloud backups from one and a half months before the shooting , and wanted to access encrypted files on the device . The U.S. government ordered Apple to produce an IPSW file that would allow investigators to brute force the passcode of the iPhone . The order used the All Writs Act , originally created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 , to demand the firmware , in the same way as other smartphone manufacturers have been ordered to comply
2015 San Bernardino attack
2015 San Bernardino attack
IPSW