Apple may not have to build that backdoor into the iPhone after all if the government takes an outspoken security veteran up on his offer. John McAfee proposed Thursday US time to end the standoff between Apple and federal authorities over the decryption of the alleged San Bernardino shooter's iPhone by offering to unlock the phone for them.
The McAfee founder and presidential hopeful said in a Business Insider op-ed that his team of “some of the best hackers on the planet” who have “talents that defy normal human comprehension” could use social engineering to crack the code in three weeks.
“I will, free of charge, decrypt the information on the San Bernardino phone, with my team” so that Apple doesn't have to place a backdoor on its product, he said.
"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone."
McAfee also criticised the FBI for not being able to crack the phone on its own despite its resources. He said that the best hackers in the world don't work for the bureau because “the FBI will not hire anyone with a 24-inch purple mohawk, 10-gauge ear piercings, and a tattooed face who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year.”
Update: This story has been updated to include McAfee's offer to eat his own shoe if he can't crack the phone.
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