NSO Group Hacking WhatsApp Despite Court Order
WhatsApp has caught the NSO Group phishing its users, in violation of a court order.
WhatsApp has caught the NSO Group phishing its users, in violation of a court order.
404Media is reporting that the FBI could not access a reporterβs iPhone because it had Lockdown Mode enabled:
The court record shows what devices and data the FBI was able to ultimately access, and which devices it could not, after raiding the home of the reporter, Hannah Natanson, in January as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. It also provides rare insight into the apparent effectiveness of Lockdown Mode, or at least how effective it might be before the FBI may try other techniques to access the device.
βBecause the iPhone was in Lockdown mode, CART could not extract that device,β the court record reads, referring to the FBIβs Computer Analysis Response Team, a unit focused on performing forensic analyses of seized devices. The document is written by the government, and is opposing the return of Natansonβs devices.
The FBI raided Natansonβs home as part of its investigation into government contractor Aurelio Perez-Lugones, who is charged with, among other things, retention of national defense information. The government believes Perez-Lugones was a source of Natansonβs, and provided her with various pieces of classified information. While executing a search warrant for his mobile phone, investigators reviewed Signal messages between Pere-Lugones and the reporter, the Department of Justice previously said.
The US Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of geofence warrants.
The case centers on the trial of Okello Chatrie, a Virginia man who pleaded guilty to a 2019 robbery outside of Richmond and was sentenced to almost 12 years in prison for stealing $195,000 at gunpoint.
Police probing the crime found security camera footage showing a man on a cell phone near the credit union that was robbed and asked Google to produce anonymized location data near the robbery site so they could determine who committed the crime. They did so, providing police with subscriber data for three people, one of whom was Chatrie. Police then searched Chatrieβs home and allegedly surfaced a gun, almost $100,000 in cash and incriminating notes.
Chatrieβs appeal challenges the constitutionality of geofence warrants, arguing that they violate individualsβ Fourth Amendment rights protecting against unreasonable searches.