Android phones seem to be becoming more secure
While tech companies such as Google and Apple have ensured they maintain the security of users, companies like Cellibrite and Grayshift can easily get into smartphones with the tools they have. While both Android and iOS are a part of this, a new report has evidence that the former is more difficult than the latter. Read on to know more.
Android smartphones are difficult to hack
As per a report by The Vice, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ran a test and found out that Cellebrite could easily crack iPhones but Android devices gave it a hard time. This means that Android smartphones are much more difficult to get into than an iPhone.
Detective Rex Kiser, who conducts digital forensic examinations for the Fort Worth Police Department said, “Right now, we’re getting into iPhones. A year ago we couldn’t get into iPhones, but we could get into all the Androids. Now we can’t get into a lot of the Androids.”
If you don’t know, last year, Cellebrite launched its Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) -- UFED Premium -- which is able to hack any iOS device and even high-end Android devices. With the launch, the Israeli company took a leap and was able to finally crack iPhones. As a reminder, Apple iPhones got difficult when Apple introduced the USB Restrictive mode with iOS 14. However, it got defeated last year.
During the test, Cellibrite could easily get GPS data, messages, call logs, contacts from iPhone X and older devices, along with some social media data. However, email data could not be extracted. As for the Android devices, while data from Google Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy S9 could be dug out, Huawei P20 Pro got them nothing.
Kiser further suggested that new operating systems are becoming harder to get so that law enforcement can’t get data from smartphones.
