According to the New York Post:
Cellebrite, an Israeli firm that supplies "forensics tools" to agencies around the world, including US law enforcement, appears to have suffered a serious hack. Motherboard claims to have 900GB of Cellebrite data, supplied to it by an anonymous hacker. Among other things, the data reportedly shows that the Israeli firm has been selling its technology to regimes known for their human rights abuses, including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
According to Motherboard:
The breach is the latest chapter in a growing trend of hackers taking matters into their own hands, and stealing information from companies that specialize in surveillance or hacking technologies.
Cellebrite is an Israeli company whose main product, a typically laptop-sized device called the Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED), can rip data from thousands of different models of mobile phones. That data can include SMS messages, emails, call logs, and much more, as long as the UFED user is in physical possession of the phone.
New York Post Again:
Cellebrite is best known for its rumored involvement in helping the FBI crack the San Bernandino shooter's iPhone, as Apple fought an order to assist through the courts. In addition to helping the FBI in that case, Cellebrite sells forensics devices and software to dozens of US law enforcement agencies and police departments.
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Phone-Hacking Tool Law Agencies Use Cost Just $100 on eBay
When smartphone companies refuse to help law enforcement agencies access encrypted devices, investigators often turn to companies like Cellebrite, which offers its Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) to help them hack the phone in question to access secure data The problem? This week, Forbes reported that UFEDs--which normally cost between $5,000 and $15,000--can now be bought on eBay for as little as $100.
In addition to letting anyone with a likeness of Benjamin Franklin break into other people's devices, these used UFEDs were also found to contain data from previous investigations.
Forbes said Hacker House co-founder Matthew Hickey bought a dozen UFEDs to see what secrets they might contain. He reportedly found that the "secondhand kit contained information on what devices were searched, when they were searched and what kinds of data were removed," as well as the searched phones' IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) codes.
Related: Washington Post: The FBI Paid "Gray Hat(s)", Not Cellebrite, for iPhone Unlock
Meeting Cellebrite - Israel's Master Phone Crackers
Cellebrite Appears to Have Been Hacked
Federal Court Rules That the FBI Does Not Have to Disclose Name of iPhone Hacking Vendor
The FBI will not have to disclose the name of the vendor that it paid to hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists:
A federal court ruled yesterday that the FBI does not have to disclose either the name of the vendor used or price the government paid to hack into the iPhone SE of mass shooter Syed Farook, according to ZDNet. The device became embroiled in a heated national controversy and legal standoff last year when Apple refused to help the FBI develop a backdoor into it for the purpose of obtaining sensitive information on Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, both of whom participated in the terrorist attack that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California in December 2015.
The Justice Department originally filed a lawsuit against Apple to compel it to participate by creating a special version of its mobile operating system, something Apple was vehemently against because of the risk such a tool posed to users. But very soon after, the government withdrew from the case when a third-party vendor secretly demonstrated to the FBI a workable method to bypass the iPhone's security system. Three news organizations — the Associated Press, Vice News, and USA Today — filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in September 2016 to reveal details of the hacking method used. Because it was not clear how many phones the workaround could be used on, and whether the FBI could use it surreptitiously in the future, the lawsuit was seeking information that would be pertinent to the public and security researchers around the globe.
Previously: Washington Post: The FBI Paid "Gray Hat(s)", Not Cellebrite, for iPhone Unlock
FBI Can't Say How It Hacked IPhone 5C
Meeting Cellebrite - Israel's Master Phone Crackers
Cellebrite Appears to Have Been Hacked
Senator Dianne Feinstein Claims That the FBI Paid $900,000 to Break Into a Locked iPhone
Related: FBI Resists Revealing its Tor User Identification Methods in Court
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @09:08AM
Among other things, the data reportedly shows that the Israeli firm has been selling its technology to regimes known for their human rights abuses, including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
To write that sentence; you need to have a very distorted world view. While I'm sure those 3 nations have done their best at human rights abuse, they are roughly on the same level as the US and Israel themselves. Where, as strange as this sounds to myself, Israel is probably the lesser of the before mentioned evils.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @09:24AM
Wag the Dog.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @09:49AM
Note that Turkey is a NATO state. I'm pretty sure they got lots of military support from both the US and other NATO states.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:00AM
I've been asking others whether Turkey will lead to the downfall of NATO. Or if it will be kicked out of NATO. Or maybe the West will just fund a successful coup against Erdoğan.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @12:17PM
you mean a democratic coup?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:32PM
Nope, we have too much recent evidence that voters just can't be trusted to choose our favorite corrupt leader to replace our previous one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:14AM
If I were to make a weighted index of human rights abusers in the world, then Israel would get the most points. USA would be a close second.
Then much lower in the index would come the rest of the world.
In other words, Israel is pure evil. Their pet dog USA is right next in the list of most evil.
Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Russia
Those nations are far down in the index of human rights abusers, but the MSM media barks a lot against those nations, so you hear about them more often. Just because its on the news does not make it so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @11:17AM
There's no point in running stories about Cellebrite! You can't name and shame pure evil!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:44PM
Oh, yes, intentionally bombing civilians with barrel bombs from helicopters, and purposefully returning to attack the same position in order to kill rescue workers does put one FAR down that list. Plus doing this on the world stage as well and saying "fuck you" when called out on it.
What a fucking idiot you are. Or an RT editor.
(Score: 2) by marcello_dl on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:14AM
He did say Turkey Russia and UAE abuse human rights. True even if Israel or USA do it too.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
The interesting thing is that Israel and UAE are officially at odds and covertly helping each other. I doubt Cellebrite would help the arabs against the will of the Mossad, we are not talking about ice cream exports here. Of course it remains to be seen whether the help is not backdoored itself.
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @11:50AM
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
Is that a Melania Trump/golden showers joke?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @01:23PM
Or Mother Earth, or whatever other anthropomorphized entity you envision the Earth as.
But yes, she must be a hard core masochist the way she lets people piss, shit, and dig into her on a daily basis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @03:44AM
The quote you refer to is from the Holy Bible: Revelation 18:3
What is this fornication? Personally, I believe it to be the Fractional Reserve Banking system, which I see as a pit of vipers enslaving many for the benefit of a very few.
(Score: 2) by Geezer on Tuesday January 17 2017, @10:49AM
An expert in the field, the esteemed Boris Badenov, commented "Beh heh heh."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Tuesday January 17 2017, @03:52PM
With law enforcement so determined to break the law at every turn, perhaps the answer is to kill off their suppliers.