FBI Used New Cellebrite Software to Access Trump Shooter’s Samsung Phone
Margi Murphy and Katrina Manson, reporting for Bloomberg:
The local FBI bureau in Pittsburgh held a license for Cellebrite
software, which lets law enforcement identify or bypass a phone’s
passcode. But it didn’t work with Crooks’ device, according to the
people, who said the deceased shooter owned a newer Samsung model
that runs Android’s operating system.
The agents called Cellebrite’s federal team, which liaises with
law enforcement and government agencies, according to the people.
Within hours, Cellebrite transferred to the FBI in Quantico,
Virginia, additional technical support and new software that was
still being developed. The details about the unsuccessful initial
attempt to access the phone, and the unreleased software, haven’t
been previously reported.
Once the FBI had the Cellebrite software update, unlocking the
phone took 40 minutes, according to reporting in the Washington
Post, which first detailed the FBI’s use of Cellebrite.
Reporting it like this is like running a commercial advertisement for Cellebrite. What kind of passcode was Crooks using on his phone? Digits only or alphanumeric? How many characters? Did they crack the passcode or get in some other way?
Without that information all that should have been reported here is that the FBI was able to get access to his phone’s contents, and that the phone was from Samsung. That’s it. I totally understand why the FBI — and Cellebrite — might not want to say how they got in, but without that context, there’s no reason to sing their praises for having gotten in.
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Margi Murphy and Katrina Manson, reporting for Bloomberg:
The local FBI bureau in Pittsburgh held a license for Cellebrite
software, which lets law enforcement identify or bypass a phone’s
passcode. But it didn’t work with Crooks’ device, according to the
people, who said the deceased shooter owned a newer Samsung model
that runs Android’s operating system.
The agents called Cellebrite’s federal team, which liaises with
law enforcement and government agencies, according to the people.
Within hours, Cellebrite transferred to the FBI in Quantico,
Virginia, additional technical support and new software that was
still being developed. The details about the unsuccessful initial
attempt to access the phone, and the unreleased software, haven’t
been previously reported.
Once the FBI had the Cellebrite software update, unlocking the
phone took 40 minutes, according to reporting in the Washington
Post, which first detailed the FBI’s use of Cellebrite.
Reporting it like this is like running a commercial advertisement for Cellebrite. What kind of passcode was Crooks using on his phone? Digits only or alphanumeric? How many characters? Did they crack the passcode or get in some other way?
Without that information all that should have been reported here is that the FBI was able to get access to his phone’s contents, and that the phone was from Samsung. That’s it. I totally understand why the FBI — and Cellebrite — might not want to say how they got in, but without that context, there’s no reason to sing their praises for having gotten in.