Pakistani intelligence services have purchased advanced phone hacking tools made by Israel’s Cellebrite company, the Haaretz daily reports.
Pakistan does not have diplomatic ties with Israel and Cellebrite says it only sells its products to legitimate law enforcement agencies. Nevertheless, Islamabad has been using the tool at least since 2012, the report says, citing Pakistani tender documents reviewed by the paper.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency apparently purchased the machines via a third party in Singapore, the report says.
Petah Tikva-based Cellebrite was reportedly the company the FBI used in 2016 to hack into the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter after Apple refused the US government’s request to build a backdoor into its famously secure operating system.
Cellebrite’s technology does not work remotely. It requires a specially designed device to be physically connected to the phone being hacked.
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