Federal investigators are analyzing device’s content, although it is unclear how agency gained access

The FBI has gained access to the phone of the suspected gunman who opened fire on Donald Trump’s rally and is analyzing the device’s contents, the agency stated in a press release on Monday afternoon. The shooting, which killed one audience member and left Trump bleeding from one ear, is being investigated as an assassination attempt.

Authorities have been working to determine the motive behind the attack at Trump’s campaign rally on Saturday, but no clear picture has yet emerged. The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks by the FBI, was shot and killed in the incident.

Federal investigators announced on Sunday that they had obtained Crooks’s cellphone, but had issues with bypassing its password protections to access the data within. FBI investigators then shipped the phone to a lab in Virginia, where agents successfully gained access, per the bureau’s press release.

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    Anyone know what kind of phone they reported they cracked? This should bring fear to anyone who cares even a little about privacy.

    Otherwise, it will become normal to question why you take a shit with the door closed (what are you hiding in there?) slippery slopes and what-not.

      • @[email protected]
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        05 months ago

        Unless you please provide sources, I don’t fucking believe a word anyone says on the internet, and assume you are full of shit. Apologies if I sound rude, but I hate how people say shit like what you say and we all simply must take your word for it.

        • @[email protected]
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          5 months ago

          He’s referring to cellebrite but others exist. It’s 100% real.

          look it up on youtube if you want

        • @[email protected]
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          255 months ago

          Look Up NSO group for an example of an Israeli based company making their money with exploits. Their most famous product is Pegasus. It’s a zero click remote trojan for iPhones and android devices. It’s probably different from what was used here but I wouldn’t be surprised if other technology in this sector comes from the same region.

        • @[email protected]
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          215 months ago

          This was big news not that long ago. Pegasus spyware created by the Israeli NSO group.

          They discover or buy zero day exploits and rather than telling the manufacturer about them they incorporate them into their software and sell to governments around the world

          Pegasus was mainly about remote code execution but you can bet your bottom dollar they also have shit for opening phones in their posession

        • @njm1314
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          85 months ago

          You sound rude cause you’re trying to. There were plenty of ways to write that without sounding like a dick.

        • @PriorityMotif
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          75 months ago

          There’s a fun podcast called darknet diaries that covers this kind of thing.

        • @[email protected]
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          15 months ago

          People posted multiple sources so now you really just sound like a dick, even if you weren’t intending to, unless you were intending to.

    • @[email protected]
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      175 months ago

      It doesn’t matter. If a nation state is a wants access, they’re gaining access.

      It’s probably an exploit from that Israeli cyber company that I forget the name of.

    • @[email protected]
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      95 months ago

      On the scale of privacy concerns, anything that starts with “they took physical possession of my device” ranks pretty low on my list.

    • @Redredme
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      75 months ago

      Any (western designed) phone. It doesn’t matter. All your data belongs to us. Them.

    • Jimmybander
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      35 months ago

      I more curious for the android iphone debate. What the more popular phone amongst presidential assassins?