When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met.
Police officers monitor traffic on the streets from surveillance camera footages as Argentine President Alberto Fernandez announced an extension of the lockdown it has imposed as a measure to control the spread of coronavirus, in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
A Cellebrite spokeswoman said the salesman was offering the same tools the company has long sold to help police enforce the law. The company is also offering a version of its product line for use by healthcare workers to trace the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, but the tools can only be used with patient consent and can’t hack phones, she said.
Intellexa Co-CEO Tal Dilian poses at his house in Limassol, Cyprus, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou “This public health crisis needs a public health solution - not the interjection of for-profit surveillance companies looking to exploit this crisis,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director for the UK-based civil liberties group Privacy International.
Government officials have sought to address such concerns by pointing to the unprecedented nature of the crisis. COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, has so far infected more than 3 million people worldwide, killing over 210,000. The South African Health Ministry declined to comment on details of the program and whether it had contracted with any of the intelligence firms.
South Korean job seekers during an exam conducted outdoors amid social distancing measures in Seoul, April 25, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji Last year, for example, Facebook’s WhatsApp unit accused NSO Group of helping governments hack 1,400 targets that included activists, journalists, diplomats and state officials. NSO denies the allegations, saying it only provides the technology to government agencies under strict controls and is not involved in operations.
A Verint spokesman declined to answer questions, instead referring to an April 16 press release which said unspecified products were being used by an unnamed country to help respond to COVID-19. India’s Ministry of Interior said it had not purchased a system from Verint. Revelations in 2013 that the U.S. National Security Agency had collected this kind of mobile phone data about Americans to track national security threats created a storm of controversy and fueled new restrictions on surveillance.
South Korean officials say any loss of privacy from surveillance must be weighed against the disastrous economic consequences caused from a long-term shutdown.
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