🔓 Possible Breakthrough in Phone Encryption by NFI
It appears that the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) may have cracked a system, focusing on the widely used Google Pixel phones. These phones run software that is supposed to be encrypted and the phone itself is believed to be uncrackable.
🕵️♂️ Case of Peter R De Vries' Murder
In the investigation of the murder of Peter R De Vries, the NFI seems to have accessed data from a Google Pixel phone. They reportedly extracted all conversations exchanged by the suspects before, during, and after the murder.
📱 Nature of the Hack
This isn't a live hack like the Encro hack, where law enforcement agencies can monitor in real-time. It's more akin to the PGP BlackBerry hack, where data can be retrieved afterward when a phone is confiscated. Most Pixel users utilize Signal chat, often in a burn mode combined with Google Pixels (there are no signs yet that signal itself is hacked). The recovery of messages from such an encrypted device raises questions about the security of these phones. Because; “are these conversations still on the phone after burning a chat?”. Huge questions, that needs answers.
🔒 Concerns Over Phone Security
It's unclear which (encrypted) software the suspects used, as Google Pixel phones can run various encrypted software. The question remains whether a specific software was compromised or if the phone itself can be cracked regardless of the software used. These findings are concerning as they suggest potential vulnerabilities in such phones.
🤫 Cracked but Kept Secret
Law enforcement agencies might choose to keep this hack under wraps, similar to what happened with the Encro chat (PGP) previously. This tactic is often employed to maximize the benefits of a "hack." If this is the case, the world might only start seeing the results of this operation in one to two years. While we don’t care about criminals that kill other people (they should be behind bars!), but we highly care about privacy, and this (if true) would again be a big hit against privacy advocates worldwide.
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