FBI cracks Trump shooter phone in 40 minutes (with some outside help)
After numerous attempts, the FBI has finally unlocked the cell phone belonging to the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a Presidential campaign rally last weekend – and it only took 40 minutes – with some outside help from an Israeli cyber intel firm.
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After numerous attempts, the FBI has finally unlocked the cell phone belonging to the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a Presidential campaign rally last weekend – and it only took 40 minutes – with some outside help from an Israeli cyber intel firm.
New information revealed Thursday by Bloomberg News said that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had gained full access to the Trump shooter’s phone but had to bring in an outside software firm to do so.
According to sources, FBI field agents contacted the Israeli digital intelligence company Cellebrite in search of the latest version of the firm’s law enforcement-friendly forensic software tools to help break into the phone.
According to its website, Cellebrite, whose tagline is “Accelerate justice with Cellebrite,” already provides federal, state, and local law enforcement with software that helps investigators access suspects’ devices and extract relevant data needed to solve cases.
Data commonly collected from confiscated devices using the forensic tools include location data, call logs, deleted texts, photos, and videos, the company states.
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The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by Secret Service snipers minutes after he shot at the former President, grazing his ear, from on a rooftop at the Pennsylvania rally on July 13th. One attendee was killed, and two others were critically injured.
The FBI had seized Crook’s mobile phone and other electronic devices in the days following the shooting.
The FBI has been scouring Crook's home, computer, and other paraphernalia looking for clues as to the shooter’s motivation, but have come up empty-handed and are hoping the phone will provide them fresh information.
Bloomberg reports that the FBI field office working on the case in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had first tried to unlock Crook’s phone using an older version of licensed Cellebrite software, but with no luck.
That’s when the office decided to ask the Cellebrite for help.
“Within hours, Cellebrite transferred to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, additional technical support and new software that was still being developed,” Bloomberg reported.
An initial report by the Washington Post said that once the unreleased software was used, it only took agents 40 minutes to break open the phone.
So far neither Cellebrite or the FBI have publicly addressed the new developments or revealed the steps taken to access the device.
Another report Thursday by the Associated Press, said that pictures of both President Joe Biden and Trump have been found on the phone.
Israeli spyware controversy
Formed in 1999, Cellebrite touts its “Inseyets” software suite as an all-purpose digital forensics solution that allows “unparalleled access to the latest Android and iOS devices, full file system extractions, including encrypted content, and the ability to analyze vast amounts of data.
The company, which is on a mission to strengthen its relationship with the US federal government, says it has assisted in over 5 million investigations worldwide, with close to 7,000 Federal, State, Local, and Enterprise customers, including in EU member national police forces.
Israeli spy firms have raised hackles in the past with governments worldwide due to the super-powerful hacking tools being used by bad actors and nefarious nation-states.
Pegasus spyware is probably the most well known and controversial Israeli spyware, created amd sold by the NSO group.
The spyware was secretly used not only by Israeli police to remotely hack phones of Israeli citizens allegedly connected to government protests in 2020, but was also discovered in 2023 to have been sold to at least 14 EU governments.
Another Israeli spyware firm, QuaDream, shuttered its company abruptly in April 2023 after being blacklisted by the US for allowing its software to be used to target journalists, dissidents, and government advocacy groups around the world.
The company had created a zero-click iPhone hacking tool according to an investigative report by Microsoft released in the months before QuaDream closed its doors.