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Students figure out how to hack Apple's messaging system

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CUPERTINO, CA - SEPTEMBER 09:  The new iPhone 6 is displayed during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California. Apple unveiled the Apple Watch wearable tech and two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
CUPERTINO, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: The new iPhone 6 is displayed during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California. Apple unveiled the Apple Watch wearable tech and two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

While the FBI struggles to get into numerous iPhones, one group of researchers cracked one of Apple's most precious programs: iMessage.

Tuesday, Apple and the FBI were set to have their dramatic showdown, in a Riverside courtroom, over encryption, but a judge decided to postpone the hearing.

That happened after the the Justice Department revealed that it might no longer need Apple's help opening the iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino shooting.

Whether that particular iPhone will be cracked remains to be seen, but meanwhile, a group of students at Johns Hopkins University recently discovered another way to hack into Apple's message service. 

Gabriel Kaptchuk is one of those students and he told Alex Cohen how they managed to do it.

To hear the entire conversation click on the audio link embedded at the top of this post.

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