FBI tool used to hack iPhone leaked

A hacker claims to have stolen an iPhone hacking tool from the servers of Cellebrite, the company that helped the FBI crack the iPhone 5C last year.

Last year, the FBI asked Apple for help unlocking an iPhone 5C owned by Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the 2015 San Bernardino attacks. Apple refused, and the FBI reportedly teamed up with Israeli mobile security company Cellebrite to do so. According to a report from Cellebrite last month, a hacker had penetrated the company’s servers, and now the hacker has released some data to alert the FBI.

The leaked data includes code related to Cellebrite’s Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) tool, which is said to be able to crack older iPhones like the 5C, as well as Android and BlackBerry devices. Speaking anonymously to Motherboard, the hacker explained that the release of these tools was inevitable.

The hacker also confirmed that he had taken the tools from Cellebrite’s own servers, and said that he was able to access encrypted files and post them on Pastebin, a popular code repository. However, a representative of the Israeli company said that the compromised files did not include source code, only packaging information.

While the hackers' findings don't include a way to crack modern smartphones, the message here is clear: Once a company develops a hacking tool, it won't stay private for long; sooner or later, it will be released to the public.

According to ICTNews