It has emerged that Michigan State Police have been using a high-tech mobile forensics device that can extract information from over 3,000 models of mobile phone, potentially grabbing all media content from your iPhone in under two minutes.
The CelleBrite UFED is a handheld device that Michigan officers have been using since August 2008 to copy information from mobile phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The device can circumvent password restrictions and extract existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags.
In short, it can copy everything on your smartphone in a matter of minutes.
Learning that the police had been using mobile forensic devices, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has issued freedom of information requests which demand that state officials open up the data collected, to better assess if penalised motorists warrant having their data copied.
Michigan State Police were more than happy to provide the information – as long as the ACLU paid $544,680. Obviously not pocket change.
“Law enforcement officers are known, on occasion, to encourage citizens to cooperate if they have nothing to hide,” ACLU staff attorney Mark P. Fancher wrote. “No less should be expected of law enforcement, and the Michigan State Police should be willing to assuage concerns that these powerful extraction devices are being used illegally by honoring our requests for cooperation and disclosure.”
Once the data is obtained, the device’s “Physical Analyzer” can map both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth, porting location data and image geotags on Google Maps.
The ACLU’s main worry is that the handheld is quietly being used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches:
“With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity.
A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched.”
The next time you are Michigan, be sure drive carefully!
Would this also work in Airplane Mode?
So maybe turn your cell phone off if you get pulled over in Michigan?
James Bond lives in the US now, that’s why! ;-)
Judging from the picture it doesn’t use a wireless connection, so yes.
What I would like to know is why iTunes takes ages to sync while this device proves it’s possible within minutes…
Two questions: Why would they need to do this for a minor traffic violation and how is this legal without a search warrant?
Looking at the user manual this device has a bluetooth connection option which will scan and show a list of all available devices. The article makes it seem like they can extract the data w/o your knowledge, I dont think thats the case, it has to be done via a usb cable or bluetooth connection which has to pair with the phone b4 extraction can begin. But im sure the military version does not need that approval , lol.
“The UFED searches for visible Bluetooth devices within its proximity, and provides a list of all devices that it finds. Select the appropriate device from this list. Use the ▲▼ keys to move between options. Press ► to continue. The UFED then instructs you to enter “0000″ in the phone to complete the paring between the devices. Once doing this, all data transfer between the UFED and the phone will be performed using Bluetooth.”
This seems illegal. However my company; BLU Technology, offers a free phone app solution for the Android phones. Go to the Android market on your phone and search/download the free app called CheaterZ. This free app filters and hides private text messages and are not accessible by this tool they are using.
If I lived in that State I would purposely keep a 100Mb or so 256 bit AES/Blowfish encrypted archive on my phone’s memory card. Label it Top Secret, or maybe something more provocative. The Police would have the file, but good fucking luck cracking that password!