US Cops Have Wide Access To Phone Cracking Software, New Documents Reveal (medium.com) 40
Many police departments across the United States already have the ability to crack mobile devices, including the iPhone. From a report: Over the past three months, OneZero sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to over 50 major police departments, sheriffs, and prosecutors around the country asking for information about their use of phone-cracking technology. Hundreds of documents from these agencies reveal that law enforcement in at least 11 states spent over $4 million in the last decade on devices and software designed to get around passwords and access information stored on phones. OneZero obtained documents from law enforcement agencies in New York, California, Florida, Texas, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico, and Massachusetts.
These agencies included district attorneys' offices, local police departments, and county sheriffs' offices. The number of offices with access to phone-cracking tools across the country is likely far greater than what OneZero uncovered. Not all agencies responded to OneZero's request for documents. Some departments and offices claimed the records were exempt from public release. Others told OneZero they would need several months and thousands of dollars to provide the information.
These agencies included district attorneys' offices, local police departments, and county sheriffs' offices. The number of offices with access to phone-cracking tools across the country is likely far greater than what OneZero uncovered. Not all agencies responded to OneZero's request for documents. Some departments and offices claimed the records were exempt from public release. Others told OneZero they would need several months and thousands of dollars to provide the information.
Of course (Score:4, Insightful)
Wouldn't it be irresponsible of law enforcement agencies to ignore digital evidence-gathering techniques?
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Wouldn't it be irresponsible of law enforcement agencies to ignore digital evidence-gathering techniques?
To be quite honest, phone cracking isn't even a measurable problem when compared to ISMI catcher abuse.
WE are the ones being irresponsible for not targeting the larger issue that often feeds the need for phone cracking.
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Even if it is unlocked.
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Of course, just as it would be irresponsible of us to ignore this information and not try to secure our phones.
I wish there was more info on which phones are affected. They always mention the iPhone but we know some Android devices are too.
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Why would that be irresponsible? My unencrypted, passwordless phone has no evidence of crime on it.
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Why would that be irresponsible? My unencrypted, passwordless phone has no evidence of crime on it.
Do you have GPS?
Have you driven in a car with GPS on?
Looks like your phone has evidence of speeding, either by you or by your driver.
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Give me ten minutes with the phone of the most honest man and I'll find something in it to hang him.
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What's really irresponsible is that so many phones can be cracked when literally all that should happen is the phone has a robust mechanism to "do not respond to anything over USB or connect to any new wireless devices while locked".
And yet, year after year, Cellebrite keeps updating their devices and you just plug a phone in and boof! You're in.
Wtf.
They ALL have access (Score:2)
The software/hardware exists and is for sale to them. All of them have access to it.
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The software/hardware exists and is for sale to them. All of them have access to it.
Pretty sure that in this context, "having access" means "have possession of and know how to use", not "could buy it if authorized and budgeted".
Be cautious with what you keep in your phone (Score:3)
The only way to win is to not play.
Re:Be cautious with what you keep in your phone (Score:5, Funny)
All that said, I keep nothing of interest on my phone.
Yeah, I guess they already know that. No need to search your phone anymore.
Can confirm! (Score:1)
Of course they do. (Score:4, Insightful)
The public at large has wide access to phone cracking software, though not the expertise to use it.
The fact that some companies have packaged it up with some expertise and are selling it to law enforcement is not surprising.
duh (Score:1)
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anyone who believes otherwise is stupid. the whole "gosh we cant crack these iphones!" is all a show.
So, law enforcement can't catch or prosecute a murderer because "Apple won't help us crack phones!"
If we find out that claim is utter bullshit, then I fully expect lawsuits to start flying from victims families against the very agencies who are blatantly lying.
IANAL, but it certainly seems like obstructing justice can go both ways. Sadly, I doubt our legal system works fairly in that way.
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IANAL, but it certainly seems like obstructing justice can go both ways. Sadly, I doubt our legal system works fairly in that way.
Sadly, I doubt our legal system works.
FIFY
So what? (Score:2)
If they didn't have this, they wouldn't be doing their jobs very well. The police are generally not your enemy.
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The police are generally not your enemy
In many cases, they are. They can let things slide, or arrest. Their predisposition and judgement can be the tipping point in a persons life. Their word is worth more than yours. Their power is more than yours. Even innocent people are arrested. Sounds like they could be an enemy to me.
Re: So what? (Score:1)
You can definitely treat them as your enemy. Go ahead if you like.
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That must be so very nice for you, but is patiently untrue for what is very quickly becoming the majority of the population.
The police can and will ruin your life (and the lives of those around you) on a whim. They are regularly caught planting evidence, stretching the truth, breaking their own rules, and engaging in extremely unprofessional behavior. They also have a reputation for shooting and tazing perfectly lawful citizens, intimidation, graft, and bribery. A great many cities in the United States stil
Extrapolation (Score:2)
1. Taking any statistical sample will mean there are more in the population. What matters is the proportion of the sample that has the tools. That proportion could be used to estimate the number of departments with those tools, except...
2. They only sampled "major" departments. This is a source of bias. Major departments have more mon
You would think criminals aren't so dumb (Score:2)
as to do searches for bomb making, or how to hide a body on their phones.
They also shouldn't have the blueprints for their criminal mastermind plots saved in Office365 in the cloud.
But people, being people, are usually kinda stupid...
There seems to be some justification for (wiser) people to use additional encryption for the data content on their phones, especially in places where the government seizes phones at the drop of a hat, and punishes it's citizens for bad think.
Re: You would think criminals aren't so dumb (Score:1)
Indeed, they'd have to be terribly stupid to want to hide a body on their phone. Or, they have much larger phones than the general populace, but that too would be terribly stupid, they'd stick out way too much...
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To be the only person on CCTV with no smartphone thats is linked to their own account that is "on" in the area...
Time of use and review of CCTV makes criminals been "smart" stand out.
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Their "code" is left to recover and read.
Take images/video of other criminals and upload some of the images to social media.
For some it may be fraud...
To claim the protection and support of another nation...
While been on holiday and supporting banned groups in the nation they needed full protection from..
Again with images, moving funds, gps..
To create a video clip of a crime and share that video with oth
And bears go in the woods... (Score:2)
Of course the Police and security forces have access to phone tools, is this news? I'd be me more surprised if they didn't. Heck, I reckon a search through Bing ( not even a great search engine ) for 5 mins would probably be able to find a site selling the same tools. It's just software, it's not like it's some magical thing handed down from the gods, it's just software, it's copyable and in the right places it's probably freely available to download.
Double standards. (Score:1)
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When a judge grants a search warrant for evidence stored in a building or car, it's perfectly all right for the police to pick locks in order to search them.
When a judge grants a search warrant for evidence stored in an electronic device, it's perfectly all right for the police to crack it in order to search them.
Why would it be otherwise?
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The problem is when there is no search warrant, for example at the border, which extends a hundred miles inland and a 100 miles around any major airports.
The other problem is when Judges just rubber stamp search warrants or give the cops a bunch of signed warrants for them to fill out.
How stupid are people anyway? (Score:2)
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Entering a city... its all for collection when that smarten is "on" and moving around.
If every average person in a group has a smartphone on that links back to months an years of account and billing use...
Then one persons is the "don't have one"
The face, the gait... no smartphone that is "on"... why not?
Thats the gra