Police Device Used To Steal Your Cell Phone Data During Traffic Stop

[Richard Cranium]

George Orwell was right. He was just off by a few years.  



You may have heard about the Cellebrite cell phone extraction device (UFED) in the news lately. It gives law enforcement officials the ability to access all the information on your cell phone within a few short minutes. When it became known that Michigan State Police had been using the tool to access cell phones during traffic stops, it raised concern with the ACLU. Now, everyone is wondering if cops will be using devices like this elsewhere. Will this new law enforcement tool be abused, or will it be used responsibly in the pursuit of justice?
Call us paranoid, but we obtained a law-enforcement-grade software extraction tool for the iPhone to see exactly what data is up for grabs. You'd be surprised to see just how much data today's smartphones can store -- and police can access.




http://translogic.aolautos.com/2011/04/29/police-device-used-to-steal-your-cell-phone-data-during-traffic/

[Arthu®]

As far as I know for most data you still need to have your hands on the phone or at least the SIM card. It is not exactly new technology, we were already using devices like this during investigations in 2008. I doubt it is legal to connect someone's phone during a traffic stop though. But you are right, phones and smartphones in particular store a lot of data. But it is not the weakest link in cellphone communication. Like I said as far as I know you still need to have the phone in your hands. The signal is much weaker and badly encrypted, so anything you say or send in a text message can mostly be caught simply by grabbing it from the air. Law enforcement has an even better position as it can directly access phone data. Here in the Netherlands this is particularly bad, a recent investigation showed that in 80% or so of the cases that the police was looking into private information they did not have the proper rights to do so.

But if you are really worried about someone (or the police) listening in on conversations or grabbing text messages and know they are from you. Get a simple Nokia phone, get a prepaid SIM card and get an encryption (https://www.secusmart.com/en/company/profile.html).

However it is a lost battle, because the phone is just one of the links in our digital lives these days. It will take a lot of effort to secure all of them. Personally I am not too worried about the cops having the data, although it doesn't belong there and shouldn't be there, but I would be worried about criminals who also use this technology.

Arthur

[John_Kunkel]

I have wireless U-Connect in my '09 Challenger, it can connect to my cell phone up to 15 feet away (as long as it's turned on) so why can't a hand-held device just outside the door do the same?

[Arthu®]

I don't know anything about U-connect but I did a quick search and it looks to be a bluetooth service. For it to connect you need to authorize it or link it the system to the phone, at least the first time you connect it. So when someone would want to connect to your phone that way it should show a popup asking you to connect to it.

Arthur

EDIT: yes there are ways to hack into bluetooth systems but it takes a while and you would have to be in the 15 feet range all the time. Using a pairing code longer than 8 characters will make it even harder.

[Todd Wilson]

Last I knew at least in Kansas you have to have a warrant to look at a phone. A cop cant even open it up and thumb thru it  All this tech is interesting though.  I'd think if bluetooth and stuff what shut off you wouldnt be able to access a phone.


Todd

[Old Moparz]

This is why I use an old rotary phone in my car like Mannix did in his Dart.