July 16, 2024 Just two days after the attempted assassination at a Trump rally, the FBI announced it had gained access to the shooter’s phone. The speed and efficiency of this access highlight the growing capabilities of phone-hacking tools used by law enforcement.
The FBI initially struggled to break into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ phone, sending it to their Quantico lab where it was successfully accessed. Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explained that most police departments now use devices, sourced from third-party vendors, that allow law enforcement to bypass phone security measures effectively.
Historically, the FBI has faced challenges accessing encrypted phones, notably clashing with Apple over the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. The Bureau has since improved its in-house capabilities with new tools like Cellebrite and GrayKey that allow for rapid phone data extraction and the ability to break into many different brands and models, even the newest models.
The FBI is not the only law enforcement group using these tools. It’s estimated that more than 2,000 police departments also have similar tools at their disposal.
While these tools are exceptionally useful in cases like mass shootings to gather information on the shooters who are often killed by police, there are concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of phone-hacking technology. Security experts warn that these tools, while beneficial for law enforcement, pose significant human rights risks if exploited by undemocratic governments.
