Police Device Used To Steal Your Cell Phone Data During Traffic Stop

 

You may have heard about the Cellebrite cell phone extraction device (UFED) in the news lately. It gives law enforcement officials the ability to access all the information on your cell phone within a few short minutes. When it became known that Michigan State Police had been using the tool to access cell phones during traffic stops, it raised concern with the ACLU. Now, everyone is wondering if cops will be using devices like this elsewhere. Will this new law enforcement tool be abused, or will it be used responsibly in the pursuit of justice?

Call us paranoid, but we obtained a law-enforcement-grade software extraction tool for the iPhone to see exactly what data is up for grabs. You'd be surprised to see just how much data today's smartphones can store -- and police can access.

 

These tools can be very useful to law enforcement. Say, for example, a homicide was being investigated. Officers would be able to scan cell phone data to obtain the whereabouts of a suspect or victim in hopes of gaining more insight into the investigation. Legally, during traffic stops, officers need a warrant to search your cell phone; however, if you give them your phone voluntarily, they can use these tools to search it. Next time an officer asks you to give up your phone, ask to see a warrant first.

 

After the data has been snagged from the cell phone, it's stored on a USB flash drive. The officer can then load the data into Cellebrite's app to analyze in an easy to read interface.

With the information above, officials could discover your exact past locations for as long as you've owned your phone. There is even a 'map this item' button that will bring up Google Maps, displaying the location. Luckily, this application isn't available for jealous girlfriends or unwanted admirers. Only law enforcement and government officials are able to gain access to Lantern.

There is a software program that is called Lantern from Katana Forensics http://katanaforensics.com/. Although  Lantern is not the same software Cellebrite uses, its a similar law-enforcement-grade data extraction application, which can nab surprising amounts of data from an iPhone. After a simple extraction that took only a few minutes, Lantern was able to get all of our contacts, call logs, voicemails, text messages (deleted ones too), all our notes, recent map searches, Facebook contacts, all locations (WiFi and Cellular), and current and deleted photos.

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