FBI took 40 minutes to hack into smartphone of man who shot Donald Trump

Using new software from an Israeli company called Cellebriteo FBI managed to access the smartphone of Matthew Crooks, 20-year-old man responsible for shooting former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday (13), resulting in injuries to the former head of state and two other people, in addition to the death of Corey Comperatorehead of the Corps of Firemen Buffalo Township Volunteers.

The shooter’s device was a Samsung

Crooks, who was killed by the US Secret Service, was using a recent Samsung smartphone, the model of which was not mentioned. Details about the access to Crooks’ device were mentioned in a Bloomberg report, who had access to data from the investigation into the incident. Essential to helping discover details that could help understand the reasons behind the shooter’s actions, the FBI tried to access the device, but it was blocked.

Unlock in 40 minutes

Initially, an attempt was made to unlock the device at the FBI office in Pittsburgh, using proprietary software, but agents were unsuccessful. Given the importance of the case, the device was sent to the FBI office in Quantico, Virginia. There, agents were able to unlock it using software from Cellebrite. The unlocking was completed in 40 minutes. The complexity of hacking the cell phone is related to Samsung’s Knox platform, which reinforces the system of its devices against this type of violation.

If the shooter had used an iPhone, the investigation could be even more complex, as Cellebrite is unable to unlock Apple devices running iOS 17.4 or later. In some investigations, unlocking smartphones can take months.

According to the Associated Press, Crooks had photos of Donald Trump on his phone, as well as images of President Joe Biden and other officials.