A controversial device that can hack locked iPhones has just caught its biggest client so far: Immigration and Customs Control.
ICE
He has just signed a new $ 820,000 contract with Grayshift, the maker of a hacking tool known as GrayKey, according to Forbes.
The Atlanta-based firm, co-founded by a former Apple security engineer, has now earned a total of $ 1.2 million from ICE, including a previous agreement signed with the agency last year.
In a statement
ICE confirmed that “The US Immigration and Customs Service. UU. He recently awarded a contract to Grayshift for information technology software in support of its National Security Investigations component. ”
A Grayshift spokesman said that "We cannot comment on any customer who may or may not be working with GrayKey manufacturers."
The Service
Immigration and Customs Control of the USA. UU. It is now the largest publicly known customer of Grayshift, the agreement that exceeds the almost half million agreement the company had with the Secret Service.
Grayshift also has contracts with local police throughout the country, as well as around the world.
IPhone hacking contract is alarming
Particularly for what follows recent testimony, shared by the ACLU, which was obtained from immigration officials regarding the search for electronic devices at the border.
Using GrayKey, ICE can search for a locked iPhone regardless of whether it obtains the user's access code. The agency can implement the tool when pursuing friends and family of an undocumented immigrant as part of their investigation.
ICE can also use the tool to unlock the devices of journalists, activists and others who are associated with the subject of the investigation.
“The information we discover through our lawsuit shows that CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) and ICE are asserting an almost unlimited authority to search and confiscate passenger devices at the border, for purposes far removed from the application of immigration and customs laws ”.The ACLU said in a send.
Civil rights groups
The ACLU and EFF filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2017 for their “unsecured searches without suspicion of phones and laptops ” at the border and other ports of entry. The ACLU says that these searches violate the First and Fourth Amendment.
Manzana
He cares deeply about his clients privacy, has made updates to block the use of the iPhone hacking device.
When it comes to iPhones running the latest version, iOS 12, GrayKey may get some limited data, but otherwise it is unable to unlock the device.
According to Forbes
Grayshift markets its iPhone hacking tool and can still unlock Apple's latest mobile models, such as the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.
The company even announces unknown "advanced" hacking features that require a non-disclosure agreement for its customers.
Apple could stay one step ahead of GrayKey. Perhaps, the ACLU will prevail in court. Either way, it seems that our technology privacy nightmares are getting worse.
