It turns out locking your smartphone is a virtually useless form of security against master phone-cracking company Cellebrite.
Cellebrite, the company rumored to have helped the FBI unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone, says they now have the technology to break through your smartphone defenses in a matter of moments.
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Yuval Ben-Moshe from Cellebrite showed off the company’s tech by plugging in a Samsung phone and quickly disabling the security, giving him access to the entirety of the device’s content.
“We can pretty much pull up any of the data that resides on the phone,” Ben-Moshe said.
While the Samsung used in the live demo was running slightly outdated firmware, Cellebrite claims even the brand new iPhone 7 is subject to their methods.
“We can definitely extract data from an iPhone 7 as well – the question is what data,” Ben-Moshe said.
But what about apps like WhatsApp that have added layers of security? According to Ben-Moshe, that type of data can potentially be accessed as well.
Currently, Cellebrite uses their technology to help law enforcement unlock smartphones in the field. But when asked if Cellebrite also supplies oppressive governments, the answers became a little more ambiguous.
“I don’t know the answer to that and I’m in no position to comment on that,” Ben-Moshe said.
In short, it seems only law enforcement agencies have the technology to unlock your smartphones right now, but like all technology, it will likely find its way into the hands of criminals in due time.
[ H/T BBC ]
