“In what appears to be a major breakthrough for law enforcement, and a possible privacy problem for Apple customers, a major U.S. government contractor claims to have found a way to unlock pretty much every iPhone on the market,” Thomas Fox-Brewster writes for Forbes.
“Cellebrite, a Petah Tikva, Israel-based vendor that’s become the U.S. government’s company of choice when it comes to unlocking mobile devices, is this month telling customers its engineers currently have the ability to get around the security of devices running iOS 11,” Fox-Brewster writes. “That includes the iPhone X, a model that Forbes has learned was successfully raided for data by the Department for Homeland Security back in November 2017, most likely with Cellebrite technology.”
“Forbes was told by sources (who asked to remain anonymous as they weren’t authorized to talk on the matter) that in the last few months the company has developed undisclosed techniques to get into iOS 11 and is advertising them to law enforcement and private forensics folk across the globe,” Fox-Brewster writes. “Speaking about the latest developments, Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Adam Schwartz said the way in which the government did business with the likes of Cellebrite was ‘of great concern.’ He said it was clear that Cellebrite was hoarding vulnerabilities rather than disclosing them to vendors like Apple, which would lead to patches and better security for the general public. “All of us who’re walking around with this vulnerability are in danger,” he added.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What’s preventing Apple from simply buying Cellebrite and patching whatever vulnerabilities they find?
Apple should simply buy Cellebrite and other entities like it and task these newly acquired engineers with hardening iPhone to ridiculously hack-proof levels. — MacDailyNews, March 24, 2016
Furthermore, the simple act of Apple acquiring Cellebrite will be a marketing coup as any doubts about iPhone security will be immediately erased. — MacDailyNews, March 29, 2016
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s new challenge: Learning how the U.S. cracked terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Did the FBI just unleash a hacker army on Apple? – March 29, 2016
Apple declares victory in battle with FBI, but the war continues – March 29, 2016
Apple vows to increase security as FBI claims to break into terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
U.S. government drops Apple case after claiming hack of terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Meet Cellebrite, the Israeli company reportedly cracking iPhones for the FBI – March 24, 2016
