Cellebrite to Help FBI Unlock Shooter's iPhone

[dgstorm]

It turns out that the FBI really did find a third party solution to help them try to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone without involving Apple. According to the latest reports, the Department of Justice just signed a $15,000 contract with an Israeli firm called Cellebrite.

Cellebrite is a company which specializes in advanced mobile forensics data solutions to aid in investigations, corporate security, law enforcement and more. Here's a quote from their website describing their mission and services:

"Cellebrite mobile forensics solutions give access to and unlock the intelligence of mobile data sources to extend investigative capabilities, accelerate investigations, unify investigative teams and produce solid evidence. Cellebrite's range of mobile forensic products, the UFED Series, enable the bit-for-bit extraction and in-depth decoding and analysis of data from thousands of mobile devices, including feature phones, smartphones, portable GPS devices, tablets and phones manufactured with Chinese chipsets."

The primary means that Cellebrite is likely to take in order to "hack" the shooter's iPhone was described by UCLA technology fellow Daniel Kahn Gillmor. He believes they will use a technique called NAND mirroring.

This method copies the part of the phone's internal memory which counts the number of passcode attempts entered. Cellebrite can then continually restore the copy, so the FBI can bypass the limit passcode guesses which can normally be entered before the device is bricked.

Source: MacRumors

 

[chevycam94]

I bet Apple is pissed! LOL.

 

[RETG]

Oh great, let's do find out if there is any info that might lead to the stop of another possible attack! Didn't need to send anymore money to Israel; if only Apple had realized someone, somewhere would be able to crack the iPhone!

 

[Efin]

I'm sure Israel wants to stop these terrorists just as much as we do. A number of people that fled Islamic extremism were killed in that San Bernardino Isis attack of our country and our freedom, Israel tries to fight that extremism at all accounts, more power to them.

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[Miller6386]

We need a section here "Enter at your own risk" where we can openly discuss topics like this one.

 

[Amagine]

Everyone with a ounce of knowledge in technology knew it could be done. This was either incompetence within the FBI ranks or a push to force software designers and manufacturers back into the government fold after PRISM was exposed. Every engineer within a mile of the project fled for fear of their careers and companies badly didn't want the black eye.
I'm more apt to think it is a combination of the two. They relied heavily on major companies playing ball and when they wouldn't, they didn't know what to do.
The NSA regularly hires expert hackers and more than once told the FBI that they could do it. Right hand never talks to the Left it seems. This is why, I for one want the government doing as little as possible.

 

[New2u]

Everyone with a ounce of knowledge in technology knew it could be done. This was either incompetence within the FBI ranks or a push to force software designers and manufacturers back into the government fold after PRISM was exposed. Every engineer within a mile of the project fled for fear of their careers and companies badly didn't want the black eye.
I'm more apt to think it is a combination of the two. They relied heavily on major companies playing ball and when they wouldn't, they didn't know what to do.
The NSA regularly hires expert hackers and more than once told the FBI that they could do it. Right hand never talks to the Left it seems. This is why, I for one want the government doing as little as possible.

True, but this is going to become more of a problem for them.

First, the company did not say they could crack it. Just that they would try and if their attempt to do so did not produce results that the FBI was going to go back to court again.

Second, this is going to make more companies end-to-end encrypt all of their information, as 3 major companies already said they were going to do. Even if they are able to make it into this phone, i bet you that the next iteration of the iphone will stop them from being able to do it using the same method.

 

[Boxster986]

I've been a member of this forum for a long time. I have rarely felt compelled to reply. To me, it's a sad day.

I'm going to respectfully walk away from this discussion, for nothing good will come of it. You will likely further inspire bigotry and hatred among the ill-informed and unaware. This would do a disservice to all the good that's left in this world.

There is sadly nothing I can say to remedy your double standard, tunnel-vision, hatred. I'm sorry.

In closing, shame on you for bringing politics and religion into a friendly/neutral zone.

 

[X_TAC23]

Let's keep political opinions out of the post.

 

[Sajo]

I try to stay away from these threads because they always end up with political points of view mixed into a tech forum. Two things I would like to add: 1.). We really should try to keep political beliefs out of this and focus on how this may affect our tech that we use. 2.). If you have never had the opportunity to visit Israel and understand the culture and the country, please don't start Israeli bashing. It's an awesome country full of great people!

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[dgstorm]

Yeah... I didn't think that simply reporting the company which the FBI hired to crack the iPhone would turn so political. The FBI vs. Apple topic is relevant, but a touchy subject certainly.

So far, in the other threads on this topic, things have gone mostly smoothly and folks have walked that fine line of not getting too political. It's a tough call deciding when a relevant mobile/tech news story is safe enough to share without creating conversational landmines.

I think I will do a poll to see if our members would like me to continue covering the FBI vs Apple subject here or not.

Here's a link to the poll: POLL: Should We Continue to Report the FBI vs. Apple iPhone News Story or Stop

 

[mountainbikermark]

Yeah... I didn't think that simply reporting the company which the FBI hired to crack the iPhone would turn so political. The FBI vs. Apple topic is relevant, but a touchy subject certainly.

So far, in the other threads on this topic, things have gone mostly smoothly and folks have walked that fine line of not getting too political. It's a tough call deciding when a relevant mobile/tech news story is safe enough to share without creating conversational landmines.

I think I will do a poll to see if our members would like me to continue covering the FBI vs Apple subject here or not.

Here's a link to the poll: POLL: Should We Continue to Report the FBI vs. Apple iPhone News Story or Stop

I don't think it was the company itself as much as the emphasis put on where it is headquartered. Had it been titled "FBI to use Cellbrite" or something like that instead of the first word being Israeli I doubt it would've gone off the rails so quickly.

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[dgstorm]

Hmmm... I guess I was a bit naive about the title. I didn't intend for the emphasis on the title to be inflammatory, just informative. I personally thought it was interesting that a company outside the U.S. is being hired by the DOJ. It honestly never occurred to me that some folks might take offense to the country of origin, even though it is simply a security company that is being hired to do a job.

I admit that I have a hard time comprehending prejudice sometimes, but I should have seen this coming. I apologize for being accidentally insensitive, and have altered the title.

 

[Efin]

Funny thing DG, but that company, Cellbrite, has been working for the US Gov't for years on security breaking apps / programs and the like, it's possible they, the Gov't, included Apple this time to get the media involved, maybe as a smear to Apple? Does not make sense in context...

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[pc747]

Rather than opening another thread I'll just post this here since it is a similar topic.


Police 3D-printed a murder victim's finger to unlock his phone

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