Security News > 2020 > January > Unlocking news: We decrypt those cryptic headlines about Scottish cops bypassing smartphone encryption

Police Scotland to roll out encryption bypass technology, as one publication reported this week, causing some Register readers to silently mouth: what the hell?

"The technology allows specially trained officers to triage mobile devices to determine if they contain information which may be of value to a police investigation or incident," the Scottish cops say of the program.

Cellebrite claims its top-end gear can "Bypass or determine locks and perform a full file system extraction on any iOS device, or a physical extraction or full file system extraction on many high-end Android devices." Privacy International has an analysis of Cellebrite's advertised - stress, advertised - capabilities here.

"The common law of Scotland operates no differently in relation to the seizure of a digital device by a police officer in the course of an investigation to any other item which is reasonably suspected to be evidence in a police investigation or incident," according to the force.

"Therefore, if a police officer in the execution of a lawful power seizes a digital device, the law allows for the examination of that device for information held within."

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/17/scottish_cops_cellebrite_kiosks/