For just $100 plus shipping, you can have this “police-only” hacking tool!
The FBI and other governments want unfettered and easy access into smartphones. In the U.S. and Australia, the governments have tried to push Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other companies to make them backdoors into consumers’ devices. They say these tools would never fall into the wrong hands. I wonder if they believe eBay buyers are the “right hands?”
Despite the fact that Cellebrite only sells their hacking tools to law enforcement, you can now find a number of these tools on eBay. They’re even cheaper than Cellebrite sells them for, with the most expensive items going for $1,000, a sixth of their price if direct from the manufacturer. Looks like hackers are getting a better deal than police!
This is proof that the “Five Eyes” intelligence network, made up of intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S., is wrong. These tools will leak. They will make it into the hands of criminals. If someone has a back door through encryption, everyone has a backdoor through encryption. It’s only a matter of time.
Without encryption, thieves will have greater incentive to steal smartphones and other electronics. They’ll be empowered by the wealth of riches they could find on these devices. Furthermore, nefarious governments could use it to weed out protesters or even just oppress certain religious or gender/sexual minorities.
If these government police forces have their way, no one will be safe.
Who’s Cellebrite?
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Cellebrite is the company we believe assisted the FBI with the iPhone 5c belonging to the workplace of the San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook. The FBI reportedly paid over a million dollars to do that. The device was believed to have nothing of value on it, as the shooters had destroyed their personal phones, leaving this work phone untouched. As it is, the FBI made no comment about the value of anything they found on the device. It seemed clear: the FBI wanted to use the unlocking of this device to set a precedent. In fact, then director of the FBI James Comey admitted this under oath. They were willing to pay to unlock it so they could argue that they attempted every other method of getting in the device. It was a lawyer’s move, something to win a case, not something done in the interest of security.
Cellebrite makes hardware and software made to help law enforcement agencies skirt computer security. Currently, much of that comes down to smartphones. They’re one of the few companies in the world who claim to be able to access iPhones. They’re careful to only sell their tools to police agencies, and warn them of disastrous consequences if those devices were to leak.
But, of course, they leaked.
Cellebrite’s Tools Leaked
Even Cellebrite’s email asking buyers not to resell their equipment leaked.
If there’s profit to be made, someone will try to make it. If we’ve learned anything about policing in the United States, it’s that no one’s perfect. Those who signed up to protect and serve the public are just as likely to defraud or harm them as anyone else.
Right now you can buy Cellebrite’s tools on eBay for a shockingly low price. Most complete tools are starting at $100 and go up to $1,000. These are going for less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, to say the least. You can even find some devices that may need repair for under $100.
Why is This Dangerous?
First, hackers and would-be phone thieves now have access to tools to unlock devices. This means they can get your banking information, private messages, photos, and anything else off your phone. It also means they can easily wipe it and resell it. This increases the value of stolen smartphones exponentially, and will lead to more smartphone thefts. Now that thieves can easily disable the tools that protect us, there’s no reason not to start grabbing people’s iPhones.
Secondly, these devices themselves contain data. Matthew Hickey, a cybersecurity researcher and cofounder of Hacker House, a training school, bought a few of these Cellebrite devices. He found data from previously hacked devices stored on the Cellebrite hacking devices. This contained IMEI numbers, data, and anything else the police or a thief may have wanted to get from a person’s phone. These devices aren’t just valuable to the person who gets them to break into devices, they’re also then valuable to anyone looking to buy that data.
A Sliver of a Silver Lining
Now Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others can get their hands on these devices. They can try to reverse-engineer how the hacks work and improve security, making the devices worthless to anyone looking to use them to break into devices in the future. However, it will still take them time to come up with these fixes. During that time, all smartphone users are now at an increased risk for theft and hacking. You can thank your police forces who assured us that these tools would never make it into the wrong hands, despite literally all security and technology experts saying otherwise.
Weird, it’s almost as though the technology experts know more about technology than the technologically illiterate.
Sources:
- Thomas Brewster, Forbes
- Roger Fingas, AppleInsider