14 DAY TRIAL // Michigan law enforcement has recently managed to break into an iPhone X and extract data stored on the device using a vulnerability in iOS 11 that was discovered by Israeli company Cellebrite.
If this name rings any bells to you, it’s because it is the same firm that reportedly helped the FBI hack the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists in the late 2015 shootings. At that time, investigators turned to several parties in an attempt to extract data from the iPhone after Apple refused to unlock the device.
Cellebrite was one of the names reportedly involved in the hacking, though it was believed that the FBI eventually managed to breach the protection system with tools offered by an undisclosed hacking group.
A report from Forbes reveals that Cellebrite has now discovered vulnerabilities in iOS 11 that allows the company to unlock any iPhone running this version of the operating system and extract data like messages and photos even without iCloud backups.
Cellebrite selling services to governments
What’s not clear, however, is if the exploits still work on the latest versions of iOS 11, as Apple has already shipped several patches that might address the said security vulnerabilities. The Michigan police breached the iPhone X in December, and since then, Apple has already released several iOS updates.
It’s possible that the security flaw has been discovered after the leak of iOS Boot source code earlier this month, though this only occurred in February, whereas the iPhone X was hacked in late 2017.
There are several questions that cannot be answered right now, and the one thing that Apple should do is ship updates to address the security flaws that are believed to be exposing customers’ iPhones.
Cellebrite is a company that’s working with governments across the world, so if it has indeed developed tools to unlock iOS 11 iPhones, expect more parties to be interested in purchasing these hacking solutions.