{ "id": "b55ae8fd-ceb7-431b-9ab5-f9dd6814c992", "created_at": "2026-04-06T01:31:40.11475Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:22:11.379767Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "74ffad1c230e7ec7a7dc1d5cd691dc60c3a3f8ab", "title": "Two vendors now sell iPhone cracking technology – and police are buying", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 50534, "plain_text": "Two vendors now sell iPhone cracking technology – and police are\r\nbuying\r\nBy Niall Kitson\r\nPublished: 2018-04-16 · Archived: 2026-04-06 00:18:26 UTC\r\nImage: IDGNS\r\n16 April 2018\r\nLaw enforcement interest in iPhone encryption-cracking hardware from two new companies is a strong indication\r\nthat Apple no longer claims the mobile security high ground.”What this means, if it’s true, is that people who\r\nthought all of their communications were totally secure shouldn’t feel so confident going forward,” said Jack\r\nGold, principal analyst with J. Gold Associates. “But, then security has always been a tug of war between the ones\r\nimplementing it and the ones trying to break it.”In February, reports surfaced that an Israel-based technology\r\nvendor, Cellebrite, had discovered a way to unlock encrypted iPhones running iOS 11 and were marketing the\r\nproduct to law enforcement and private forensics firms around the world. According to a police warrant obtained\r\nby Forbes, the US Department of Homeland Security had been testing the technology.\r\nShortly thereafter, Grayshift emerged as a different company that had developed an inexpensive black box that\r\ncould unlock any iPhone. Last week Motherboard reported that local and regional US police departments and the\r\nfederal government have been purchasing the technology.\r\nGrayshift reportedly hired a former Apple security engineer.\r\nMotherboard confirmed the use of Grayshift’s GrayKey de-encrypting device – a 4×4″ box with two iPhone-compatible lightening cables – by reviewing police department interest via public records requests and emails\r\nobtained from federal agencies that revealed purchases of the device. The GrayKey box can apparently  unlock an\r\niPhone in about two hours if the owner used a four-digit passcode and three days or longer if a six-digit passcode\r\nwas used.\r\nNate Cardozo, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit digital rights\r\ngroup, said he believes the reports that the iPhone’s encryption has been cracked. Otherwise, if it were not true,\r\nlaw enforcement agencies wouldn’t be purchasing the hacking technology.\r\n“The FBI huffed and puffed and said couldn’t get into the iPhone, and then we found out that’s not true… the\r\nliteral night before the court hearing [to decide the case],” Cardozo said.\r\nHe was referring to the investigation of San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook. Until last month, FBI\r\nDirector Christopher Wray had maintained his agency was unable to crack the passcode on an iPhone used by\r\nFarook.\r\nhttps://www.techcentral.ie/two-vendors-now-sell-iphone-cracking-technology-police-buying/\r\nPage 1 of 2\n\nThe Justice Department had petitioned the courts to force Apple to comply with an order to unlock the device; a\r\njudge granted the request, but delayed making a final decision until hearing arguments from both sides. The\r\nevening before a court hearing to decide the matter, the agency announced it had gotten help from an outside\r\ngroup. That now appears not to be true.\r\nThe FBI’s attempts to get Apple to help with unencrypting the iPhone were rebuffed. Apple maintained that to\r\nbreak into one iPhone would weaken security for all others.\r\nThe news that two iPhone unencrypting methods are now widely available to government agencies did not\r\nsurprise analysts, who said it was inevitable.\r\n“There is no such thing as unbreakable encryption,” Gold said. “The idea is to make it as hard as possible by\r\nadding layers of encryption or long keys to encode, decode. But a determined decoder can crack it, given enough\r\ntools and enough time.”\r\nThe GrayKey box retails for $15,000. That model is geofenced to a specific location, requiring an internet\r\nconnection that enables up to 300 unlocks. There is also a $30,000 GrayKey model that can be used independent\r\nof internet connectivity and offers an unlimited number of device unlocks, according to Motherboard.\r\nConversely, Cellebrite charges $5,000 to unlock a single iPhone, according to Malwarebytes.\r\nEFF’s Cardozo said consumers shouldn’t be overly concerned that iPhone breaking technology has become real\r\nbecause law enforcement agencies must still obtain a court-issued warrant to unlock a device.\r\nBut those concerned about privacy rights should realize that once cracking technology is available, it’s reasonable\r\nto believe law enforcement agencies won’t be the only ones to gain access to it.\r\n“If you believe the only people will access to GreyKey or Celebrate are the cops, I’ve got a bridge to sell you,”\r\nCardozo said.\r\nIDG News Service\r\nRead More: Apple infosec iPhone security\r\nSource: https://www.techcentral.ie/two-vendors-now-sell-iphone-cracking-technology-police-buying/\r\nhttps://www.techcentral.ie/two-vendors-now-sell-iphone-cracking-technology-police-buying/\r\nPage 2 of 2", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "MITRE" ], "references": [ "https://www.techcentral.ie/two-vendors-now-sell-iphone-cracking-technology-police-buying/" ], "report_names": [ "two-vendors-now-sell-iphone-cracking-technology-police-buying" ], "threat_actors": [], "ts_created_at": 1775439100, "ts_updated_at": 1775791331, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/74ffad1c230e7ec7a7dc1d5cd691dc60c3a3f8ab.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/74ffad1c230e7ec7a7dc1d5cd691dc60c3a3f8ab.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/74ffad1c230e7ec7a7dc1d5cd691dc60c3a3f8ab.jpg" } }