Russian authorities used Cellebrite to hack activist’s phone

Citizen Lab reports that Russian officials used Cellebrite’s UFED tools to breach the iPhone of activist Andrey Pivovarov in June 2021. This occurred three months after the Israeli firm announced it had cut off its Russian customers. The forensic analysis confirms the software was used to access encrypted messaging apps for evidence in a political prosecution.

Cellebrite maintains that any post-March 2021 usage of its hardware in Russia is unauthorized.