Security News > 2020 > October > Thought the FBI were the only ones able to unlock encrypted phones? Pretty much every US cop can get the job done

The report concludes that, far from modern phones being a bastion of privacy and security, there are in fact routinely rifled through for trivial crimes without a warrant in sight.

The report gives numerous other examples of phones taken from their owners and searched for evidence, without a warrant - many in cases where the value of the information was negligible such as cases involving graffiti, shoplifting, marijuana possession, prostitution, vandalism, car crashes, parole violations, petty theft, and public intoxication.

At least 2,000 agencies have the tools necessary to crack phones - bought from two main companies, Graykey, a US startup; and Cellebrite in Israel - the report's authors discovered, including even tiny local police stations.

In Merrill, Wisconsin, population 9,000, the police have spent $32,706 searching people's mobile phones since 2013.

"Challenges to access can often be surmounted, because of the wide range of phones with security vulnerabilities or design flaws. Even in instances where full forensic access is difficult due to security features, mobile device forensic tools can often still extract meaningful data from phones."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/10/21/us_phone_cracking/