Cellebrite, which is based in Israel and has previously worked with the US government and authorities in other countries, recently discovered vulnerabilities in the iPhone that allow devices to be hacked even when protected by passwords, including the latest models such as the iPhone X.
Cellebrite says that in essence everything is superficial, as everyone remains protected despite the existence of these vulnerabilities.
Cellebrite's marketing manager, Jeremy Nazarian, explains that the purpose of the exploits is to help governments crack devices used by criminals and terrorists, not to steal personal data from users' phones. Another reason that makes it impractical is that physical access to the iPhone is required to launch an attack.
The spokesperson also emphasized that when someone reaches out to Cellebrite with an inquiry about iPhone hacking tools, they first have to prove they have the authority to hack the phone, so not just anyone can do it.
Jeremy Nazarian declined to provide any clarification on what iPhone models are affected, whether Apple has patched the vulnerabilities in the latest iOS , and how exactly these exploits work.
Reportedly, Cellebrite is one of the companies that worked with the US government to hack the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists in late 2015, after Apple refused to develop an unlocking system to extract data from the device.
