Yediot Achronot: Israeli Tech Company is ‘Outside Source’ Offering to Hack
Terrorist’s iPhone for FBI
By Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam, March 23, 2016
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/
Yediot Achronot headline: "The FBI aided by Israeli company to hack the
iPhone."
In an exclusive story, Yediot Achronot reports (Hebrew) that the Israeli
high-tech company, Cellebrite, is the "third party" referred to by the FBI
in a court filing, which offered to hack Syed Rizwan Farouk’s iPhone, so
that the agency doesn’t need to compel Apple to do it. The report doesn’t
make clear whether the Israeli company has succeeded in cracking the phone’s
encryption. But it seems likely the FBI would not have announced a
postponement in its case against Apple unless it was fairly confident it had
a solution to the problem.
If true, this would be yet another example of Israel’s military-intelligence
technology being used to penetrate the privacy of terrorists and average
citizens world-wide.
Cellebrite specializes in forensic analysis of cell phone data:
Cellebrite is a global company known for its breakthroughs in mobile data
technology, delivering comprehensive solutions for mobile forensics and
mobile lifecycle management.
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...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. In
addition to mobile device data, [our product] provides extraction,
preservation and analysis of private data residing in cloud environments
such as social media accounts. Cellebrite’s...is the prime choice of
forensic specialists in law enforcement, military, intelligence, corporate
security and eDiscovery agencies, with more than 30,000...units deployed in
more than 100 countries.
Cellebrite home page
Since 2013, it has had a contract with the FBI to help it hack into the cell
phones of criminals and terrorists of interest to the agency.
The reporter attributes his story to "sources in the industry well-familiar
with the subject." My guess is this is someone associated with Cellebrite or
perhaps a major shareholder who wants to see his stake appreciate in value.
It may also be an Israeli intelligence source or even the prime minister’s
office, seeking to brag about the Startup Nation helping to aid a U.S.
terror investigation. It sure puts a hasbara feather in Israel’s cap.
The reporter doesn’t credit this AP report which confirms aspects of the
Yediot story:
...The most straightforward possibility is that the FBI described the
problem to a variety of contractors and one of them came forward with a
proposed solution.
Other experts mentioned an Israeli company, Cellebrite Inc., that’s a leader
among several firms selling smartphone forensics services and software tools
to US police agencies. The programs can extract data from iPhones running
older versions of Apple’s operating system, but they have been stymied by
the latest version, known as iOS 9. That’s the version running on the San
Bernardino iPhone.
Cellebrite hasn’t announced any new product that works with iOS 9, but it’s
likely working on developing one, said Darren Hayes, a computer scientist
and cyber-security expert at Pace University in New York.
Cellebrite representatives couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday. The
company did not respond to an email and phone message left at its US offices
in New Jersey.
McAfee: I know who’s helping the #FBI hack Apple https://t.co/lXLftUqp8p ;
#iPhone
-- BlackBerry Exclusive (@BBExclusiveUK) March 22, 2016
If anyone’s feeling reassured about this development (possibly Tim Cook, for
example), they shouldn’t. See McAfee’s comment in the tweet above. While it
will take Apple off the hook in the short-term, if Cellebrite can hack this
iPhone then there are a lot of other smart people in the world who will
figure out how to do it as well. Unless Apple comes up with new ways to
further enhance its encryption that even Cellebrite can’t hack, then Apple’s
guarantee of privacy won’t be worth the virtual paper it’s written on.
The article does get the background story about how the cell phone was used
by the terror suspect and how it was handled after the police retrieved it,
wrong. The reporter clearly hadn’t bothered to read the actual accounts
which noted that the police had access to the phone until a not-so-smart
detective decided to change the password. In doing so, he locked himself out
of the phone. That is what caused the problem the FBI faces today.
My guess is that this error doesn’t invalidate the breaking story.
