FBI agents recently utilized the latest CELLEBRITE software to unlock the smartphone of the shooter who targeted former US President Donald Trump at a rally in Betel Park, Pennsylvania. The incident resulted in injuries to Trump’s ear and the death of a spectator.
The shooter was identified as Thomas Matthew Cruks, and investigators needed access to data on his phone to determine the motive behind the crime. The local FBI department in Pittsburgh possessed a license for the CELLEBRITE software, but it proved ineffective against Kruks’ new Samsung model running on Android.
Upon contacting the CELLEBRITE federal team, agents in Kantico, Virginia, received additional technical support and new unreleased software within a few hours. It took 40 minutes to unlock the phone using the updated technology, which bypassed the phone’s security mechanisms and generated millions of passcode combinations.
CELLEBRITE, a company listed on the NASDAQ exchange, revealed that about a fifth of its state sector work involves federal clients. In the first quarter of 2024, the company reported an annual income of $89.6 million, with their technologies being utilized in over 5 million cases.
While CELLEBRITE has faced criticism from human rights activists who fear unethical hacking by authoritarian regimes, the company maintains that their software is strictly used in legal cases and not for surveillance purposes. In response to concerns, CELLEBRITE ceased operations in certain regions such as China and Hong Kong in 2021.