Israeli firm can steal phone data in seconds



Israeli firm Cellebrite's technology provides a glimpse of a world of possibilities accessible to security agencies globally that worry privacy advocates.
The company has contracts in more than 115 countries, many with governments, and it shot to global prominence in March when it was reported the FBI used its technology to crack the iPhone of one of the jihadist-inspired killers in San Bernardino, California.
There have since been reports that Cellebrite was in fact not involved, and the company itself refuses to comment.
Regardless, it is recognised as one of the world's leaders in such technology.
It can reportedly take a wide range of information off devices: from the content of text messages to potentially details of where a person was at any given moment.
Even messages deleted years before can be potentially retrieved.
"There are many devices that we are the only player in the world that can unlock," Leeor Ben-Peretz, one of the company's top executives, told AFP in English.
But privacy and rights activists worry such powerful technology can wind up in the wrong hands, leading to abuses.



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