Tel Aviv, March 23

Israel’s Cellebrite, a provider of mobile forensic software, is helping the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s attempt to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California shooters, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported today.

If Cellebrite succeeds, then FBI will no longer need help of Apple, the Israeli daily said, citing unnamed industry sources.

Cellebrite officials declined to comment.

Apple is engaged in a legal battle with the US Justice Department over a judge’s order that it write new software to disable passcode protection on the iPhone used by the shooter.

The two sides were set to face off in court on Tuesday, but on Monday a federal judge agreed to the government’s request to postpone the hearing after US prosecutors said a ‘third party’ had presented a possible method for opening an encrypted iPhone.

The development could bring an abrupt end to the high-stakes legal showdown which has become a lightning rod for a broader debate on data privacy in the United States.