A few days ago, the FBI announced that it had managed to gain access to the blocked phone of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man responsible for the attack on Donald Trump. According to the latest report published in Bloomberg, it did not take long. The whole process took specialists only 40 minutes.
After the shooting at the presidential rally, the FBI immediately seized the accused’s device. Several hours later, the services reported that despite attempts, they had failed to unlock the attacker’s smartphone. But these were the first attempts after which they did not give up. The phone was almost immediately transferred to the laboratory in Quantico. And while Sunday’s attempts were unsuccessful, on Tuesday it was officially announced that specialists had managed to unlock the device. What smartphone are we talking about?
No more secrets. We know what smartphone the criminal was using and how they managed to break the security
Until now, speculations have been going on about what device the criminal was using. As we know, the United States is all about iPhones, which is why many people assumed that it was an Apple smartphone. Well, maybe they are, but… not this time. According to information obtained by the editorial office Bloomberga — the attacker was using “a newer Samsung model with the Android operating system.”
But that’s right: the first attempt to unlock the device on Sunday was supposed to involve using Cellebrite software to bypass security, and the services failed to do so. At that point, they were supposed to turn to the creators of the aforementioned software for help. Cellebrite provided the FBI with “additional technical support and new software that is still in development.” These proved to be extremely effective, because using them, it took the FBI just over half an hour to unlock the phone.
What was found on the attacker’s smartphone?
As is commonly known, smartphones have become the most personal electronics and they know about us… almost everything. They are increasingly replacing our wallets, journals and diaries, they know who we are in contact with and why. That is why obtaining such information about the attacker was extremely important. What was found there? I think many were waiting for more details – but from the information that was obtained The Associated Press It turns out that the smartphone contained photographs of the former and current president of the United States, as well as many other government officials. In addition, search history shows that the owner of the device was looking for information on depressive disorders.
Another episode of the tussle between iPhone and Android fans
Of course, the official information that the attacker was using Android did not escape the attention of technology geeks and… turned out to be another spark in the years-long discussion: iPhone or Android, which is better?
I think we can all agree that we will never get an answer to this question, because it all comes down to the philosophy and needs of each individual user. Now, however, there is also the issue of fighting for security, because the Cellebrite software allegedly will not cope with most iPhones with iOS 17.4 and newer. Most, because the exceptions are supposed to be vulnerabilities related to hardware vulnerabilities in the iPhone Xr and iPhone 11 models.
Modern criminal investigations pose new challenges for officers. Access to digital traces often proves crucial and is used as evidence in court. Companies that help “break” security therefore turn out to be strategic partners of the services. It is not without reason that there is a constant discussion in politics about whether the state should have access to our data – and what the future of encryption should look like. In this particular case, it is the attacker’s smartphone that may provide us with the answer to the question of why Matthews decided to do what he did.
Source: antyweb.pl
