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Thread: Police across the US are buying an affordable iPhone cracker

  1. #1

    Police across the US are buying an affordable iPhone cracker

    More and more authorities in the US are getting access to an affordable device that can unlock iPhones, according to Motherboard. The publication's investigation has revealed that a number of local and regional police forces, including Maryland's and Indiana's, have either already bought or are thinking of buying a new piece of iPhone-cracking technology called GrayKey. It reportedly works even on phones running iOS 11, Apple's latest mobile platform, and even if authorities are using it on an iPhone X. Motherboard says the State Department already has one of its own, while the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration are planning to buy some.
    Based on an earlier report by Malwarebytes, GrayKey is a small box that can unlock two iPhones at a time. (See the two connectors in the image of the device below?) It was developed by Atlanta company Grayshift, which is run by long-time US intelligence agency contractors and a former Apple security engineer, according to Forbes. To use GrayKey, all cops need to do is connect a phone to it for two minutes. They simply have to wait a bit after it's unplugged to see a black screen pop up with the passcode -- how long they'd have to wait depends on how complex the passcode/passphrase is.


    But more than being easy to use, it's incredibly affordable for what it can do. If you'll recall, the feds paid Israeli company Cellebrite $900,000 to crack open the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone after Apple repeatedly refused to do it for them. Currently, Cellebrite unlocks phones for at least $5,000 each, but even that amount is comparably enormous to how much cops have to spend for every GrayKey unlock.
    There are two GrayKey variants available: one will set government agencies back $15,000, while the other will cost them $30,000. They can use the more expensive of the two to unlock as many iPhones as they want. The cheaper version has a limit of 300 devices, but even that isn't so bad when you do the math -- that's only $50 per device.

    More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/polic...111600120.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

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    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
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  3. #2
    All of the crackers that I know have iPhones.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by TheCount View Post
    All of the crackers that I know have iPhones.

    I was a windows and Android guy up until recently. I must say, although I loved many functions, size and interface parts of the Android, now all my devises sync together flawlessly. iPhone, MacBook and iPad.

    I wish the iPhone had a back button like my Android.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


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  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    I was a windows and Android guy up until recently. I must say, although I loved many functions, size and interface parts of the Android, now all my devises sync together flawlessly. iPhone, MacBook and iPad.

    I wish the iPhone had a back button like my Android.
    I'm thinking of getting a Chromebook for similar androidness.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by TheCount View Post
    I'm thinking of getting a Chromebook for similar androidness.

    More I know about Google, the more I want to stay away from them. But I did install Google Maps on my iPhone, it just works better than the Apple Map product.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    More I know about Google, the more I want to stay away from them. But I did install Google Maps on my iPhone, it just works better than the Apple Map product.
    It probably tracks you better too.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    It probably tracks you better too.

    Yep, that was my reluctance. But, it is a superior product. Traffic, routing, and retail store information, etc... But you can turn off location when you are not using it.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Yep, that was my reluctance. But, it is a superior product. Traffic, routing, and retail store information, etc... But you can turn off location when you are not using it.
    You can tell it to turn off and it will say it is turned off, but is it really off?
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You can tell it to turn off and it will say it is turned off, but is it really off?

    Well, I have nothing to hide like HB, AF and Oyarde.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Well, I have nothing to hide like HB, AF and Oyarde.
    Oyarde could hack into google and use it to track you down.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  13. #11
    Damn it feels good to be a luddite.
    Quote Originally Posted by timosman View Post
    This is getting silly.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    It started silly.
    T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men

    "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

    We Are Running Out of Time - Mini Me

    Quote Originally Posted by Philhelm
    I part ways with "libertarianism" when it transitions from ideology grounded in logic into self-defeating autism for the sake of ideological purity.

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    More I know about Google, the more I want to stay away from them. But I did install Google Maps on my iPhone, it just works better than the Apple Map product.
    So long as it's something that I'm opting in to voluntarily, it doesn't bother me. That data is the reason that their maps, search, etc. work so well, after all. It's a chicken-and-egg problem, and likely at least half of the reason why Apple Maps is such hot garbage.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  15. #13
    Do they need warrants to unlock the phones?
    “…let us teach them that all who draw breath are of equal worth, and that those who seek to press heel upon the throat of liberty, will fall to the cry of FREEDOM!!!” – Spartacus, War of the Damned

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