Surprise yet: Android phones are harder to crack than iPhones

Cellebrite is an Israeli company known for its Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) “cracker”, which allows law enforcement to access a locked smartphone. Apple, of course, always fights with Cellebrite and its rival Grayshift. Grayshift’s GrayKey cracker is also used to extract data from a locked Apple device. Every time Apple blocks these machines from working, companies come up with new solutions.

When plugged into the Lightning port of an iPhone, these devices will use technology that allows them to override a limited number of password attempts before the phone automatically wipes all data. This allows hackers to use “brute force”, or try any combination of possible passwords to unlock the phone. Apple thinks these crackers are … out of date when it introduced USB Restrictive Mode on iOS 11.4.1. This mode prevents the Lightning port from doing anything other than charging the iPhone if the device has not been unlocked within 1 hour. But both Cellebrite and Grayshift are not medium, always respond to Apple, and in June last, Cellebrite announced it could ” Conduct an entire file system extraction on any iOS device, or extract physical, or the entire file system on any high-end Android device “.

Private forensic examiner said it was bullshit that the FBI insisted it could not crack iPhones during the Pensacola shootings.

Earlier this month, when President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr vented their anger on Apple on the grounds that it refused to cooperate with law enforcement, Cellebrite also introduced an interesting new technology that allowed They take advantage of a vulnerability called Checkm8. Thanks to this flaw, Cellebrite has access to A-series chipsets that have been equipped with iPhone models since 2011 – 2017. Cellebrite’s vice president of security research, Shahar Tal, recently told customers that ” For the first time ever, a bunch of previously untouchable data on iOS devices has been able to be used for investigation. This update allows you to proceed quickly. Temporary jailbreak for forensic inspection and extracting the entire file system just through a simple procedure “.

However, the latest software from Cellebrite cannot extract any information from the Huawei P20 Pro running Android.

A test conducted by the National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST) found that devices of both Cellebrite and Grayshift can extract almost any data from an iPhone 7, one of two devices. Apple Pensacola murderer Apple is Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. For some reason, the FBI asked Apple to unlock these iPhones, but the company refused. This led President Trump to criticize Apple on Twitter: ” We always help Apple in commercial activities and so on, but they refuse to unlock the phones of the murderers. , drug lords, and other violent criminals. They will have to be brave and help our great nation. “ But private forensic examiner Jerry Grant, a Cellebrite customer, said: ” The things related to the new terrorists, and the FBI’s inability to access their phones, is really what nonsense, bullshit”

A new report from Vice says that Cellebrite’s current UFED 4PC software can extract data such as GPS, call logs, messages, and contacts from iPhone X and earlier. It may extract a portion of data from applications like Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat, but cannot collect emails. However, Vice pointed out that cloud email applications such as Gmail can be opened by law enforcement if they have a valid license.

The interesting thing about this report is that it says that the latest version of Cellebrite’s software cannot extract data from Android devices. The Google Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy S9 do not allow the software to access GPS data, social networks, or browsing history. Messages and call logs cannot be extracted from Verizon’s Ellipsis 8 tablet and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2. Ironically, while people always say that Huawei devices come with all sorts of backdoors, the software can’t extract any information from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Even law enforcement noticed that Android devices were getting harder and harder to crack. Detective Rex Kiser of the Fort Worth police department, which handles digital forensic assessment, said, ” Some newer operating systems are harder to access than others. I think many phone companies are simply looking for ways to make it harder for law enforcement to extract data from phones … under the pretext of protecting consumer privacy. We were able to get into the iPhone. A year ago, we couldn’t hack into the iPhone, but we could hack into every Android device. Now, we can’t hack a lot of Android devices. again”.

Detective Kiser said that Cellebrite is the leading tool for accessing most devices, except iPhones. And Grayshift’s GrayKey, which can extract all data from iPhone X except Pinterest, is only partial.

Reference: PhoneArena