New, faster phone-cracking technology from Cellebrite was used to access the phone – unconfirmed reports say it was an iPhone – of the would-be assassin of former President Trump at a rally in Butler, PA on Saturday that killed one person and critically injured two other attendees, The Washington Post reports citing “people familiar with the investigation.”
Devlin Barrett and Emily Davies for The Washington Post:
Officials said Monday they were able to access a cell phone belonging to Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pa., but they did not describe the technology behind that effort. Investigators are also exploring the possibility the gunman may have used two phones, after agents recovered a cellphone in Crooks’s house with a dead battery, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe details of an ongoing investigation.
After the shooting, investigators approached Crooks’s body and found he was carrying a cellphone. That device was first sent to the Pittsburgh FBI office, which did not have the technology to open it quickly, according to the people familiar with the investigation.
Officials sent the phone to the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Va., on Sunday, these people said.
At Quantico, FBI agents used technology from Cellebrite, a company well known among law enforcement companies for helping them access data on phones seized or recovered in criminal investigations, to get into the phone quickly, the people said.
The phone was a relatively new model, which can be harder for law enforcement to access than old phones because of newer software, according to technology experts. In many federal investigations, it can take hours, weeks or months to open a suspect’s phone.
In the Crooks case, which was an urgent priority for both the FBI and Cellebrite, the contractor’s technology was able to open it in less than 40 minutes, the people said.
Cracking the phone did not crack the case, the people said. It offered some leads to pursue, but did not hold any immediate evidence of motive or what agents call “derogatory information” — clues to criminal plans or associates.
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MacDailyNews Note: In January 2020, Police Scotland has posted a video showing a Cellebrite device unlocking a smartphone and accessing data found on the device:
MacDailyNews Take: As per unlocking iPhones, which Cellebrite can reportedly accomplish, and in regard to non-criminals’ security, why can’t Apple procure these Cellebrite cyber kiosks, figure out what they’re exploiting, and close the hole(s) if it’s software and, if it’s a hardware exploit of the Secure Enclave, fix the issue(s) in future models?
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The answer to MDN’s take is simple. By allowing this back door to occur, it gets the government off their backs to add encryption back doors through legislation.
If the attempted assassination of Donald Trump wasn’t an inside job, then:
① Why was that rooftop unsecured?
② How did Thomas Crooks know it was unsecured?
“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” – Isaiah 54:17
Peachy Keenan:
I would just like to know just two things:
• Cops and SS had 30 minutes advance warning to get Trump to a secure location while they investigated a potential threat. Why didn’t they move him, then check out the roof?
• How did Crooks know in advance what size ladder to buy, and which building he’d be setting up on? He’d have had to know where the podium was going to be. Did he?
https://www.peachykeenan.com/p/homeland-insecurity
Exactly. In fact, they need to investigate if Lee Harvey Oswald, who we know really got away and was spirited off to Argentina to hide with 122 year old Dolfi-Bob Hitler, was mixed up in this. Hey, after all, there are many similarities, right: both were men, both were wearing clothing, both used a rifle, both HAD THEIR SHOES TIED, it is suspected that both ate something within 24 hours of the attempts, AND THE KICKER, BOTH SPOKE ENGLISH. What more evidence do you need buddy?
The reaction is Worlds apart. The other side would be burning and destroying in the streets and calling it peaceful.
Well said. It is the reaction of responsible adults, NOT the spoiled Leftist cry babies that never grew up. Nuff said…
How in the World were local police in the SAME bldg, from where the shooter was positioned?
I heard those police were to have been positioned on that building’s roof, but were stationed inside b/c of heat. If true, “heat” and roof incline” were reasons for some locations being unsecured.
I’ll just leave is here…, https://rumble.com/v5787us-totally-sus-assassination-attempt-not-adding-up.html