A phone-hacking device that law enforcement officials use to extract data from phones is popping up on eBay for as little as $100. Federal agencies in the US and elsewhere, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, typically spend up to $15,000 on current models of Cellebrite’s Universal Forensic Extraction Device, though older versions are available on the secondary market.
This valuable, Israeli-made piece of technology called the Cellebrite UFED is used by police around the world to break open iPhones, Androids and other modern mobiles to extract data. Cellebrite isn’t happy about those secondhand sales. On Tuesday, two sources from the forensics industry passed Forbes a letter from Cellebrite warning customers about reselling its hugely popular hacking devices because they could be used to access individuals’ private data.
Cellebrite has reportedly sent letters asking its customers to destroy UFEDs that are no longer useful or return them to be properly disposed of instead of selling the devices. Its terms don’t permit clients to resell UFEDs.
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