The hacker who hacked professional hacking company Cellebrite has just released a data dump containing some of Cellebrite’s hacking tools.
Cellebrite’s name popped up in last year’s Apple vs FBI case where the FBI tried to compel Apple into building a custom firmware for the iPhone that would let the FBI access any locked iPhone at will. The FBI dropped the case after Cellebrite approached them with a solution.
In January, a hacker hacked into Cellebrite and stole 900GB of data from its servers. This includes vast data dumps with tools, client information and more. Cellebrite got into some hot water since the hack, as it was revealed that Cellebrite was selling these tools to ‘oppressive’ governments like Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The hacker has since released the tools that Cellebrite uses to hack into older iPhones and other Android and Blackberry devices.
In conversation with Motherboard, the hacker revealed that he did this because he wanted to show the FBI that backdoors are dangerous and they will be revealed sooner or later.
The hacker’s and Motherboard’s analysis of the tools reveal that much of the code used in the iPhone hacks was similar to that used in jailbreaking the iPhone. The hacker points out that the data was encrypted by Cellebrite, but that the encryption was easy to crack.
“If, and it’s a big if, they used this in UFED or other products, it would indicate they ripped off software verbatim from the jailbreak community and used forensically unsound and experimental software in their supposedly scientific and forensically validated products,” Jonathan Zdziarski, a forensic scientist, explains.
The tools released by the hacker reportedly apply only to older devices and operating systems, so if you’ve updated your devices, you’re relatively safe from a random hacker using these tools.
Of course, if you’re Donald Trump and still love using a 3-year old phone with a 3-year old operating systems, chances are high that you will be hacked.
