iPhones are known to be inviolable, Apple has taken care of it! However, Cellebrite has developed software that allows access to the content of devices without even needing to know the unlock code!
The number of smartphones, capable of storing messages, photos, location history, instant messaging and various applications, has exploded in recent years, to the point that law enforcement agencies need access to them more than ever. their investigations. But this is not an easy thing, because the manufacturers put in place protections, in particular by encrypting the data and protecting them by password. The task is particularly difficult with iPhones, because the data is encrypted and stored in a proprietary format that can only be read by Apple devices.
But some companies have specialized in marketing software and hardware for extracting data from mobile phones. This is the case of Cellebrite, a company founded in 1999 in Israel and which has belonged since 2007 to the Japanese group Sun Corporation, which has managed to make a nice – and controversial – reputation in the sector, in particular thanks to its UFED software, which allows you to hack into an iPhone, without even knowing the unlock code… No wonder the police forces, armies and secret services of many governments, as well as many legal experts call on it! It even launched Cellebrite Premium, a service that promises “unprecedented access to all high-end iOS and Android devices”. iPhone 14 owners may be shaking!
Cellebrite: security and privacy pros?
Cellebrite’s popularity exploded in 2016, when a U.S. federal judge ordered Apple to work with the FBI to force the iPhone from one of the San Bernardino shooters, in California. The Apple firm had strongly opposed the order, in order to avoid setting a dangerous precedent with security risks – a position it still maintains. Also, the attention of law enforcement and the general public has turned to companies of this kind. On his siteCellebrite claims that “more than 6,700 public safety organizations at the federal, state or local level in more than 140 countries trust the platform and [à ses] end-to-end digital intelligence services”. In France, the company won in 2019 a public market four years for the supply of telephone data extraction and analysis systems for the police, the gendarmerie, customs, and a department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But the company itself is not immune to data leaks. Last January, about 1.7 terabytes of company data ended up on the Dark Web because of hacktivists, who justify their distribution by ensuring that the company’s software is used to “collect information on journalists, activists and dissidents”, including in cases of human rights violations. According to the website Hackread, Cellebrite’s leaked data archive contained the company’s full suite of programs, including its flagship UFED software. Hope it didn’t fall into the wrong hands!