Russia used Israeli firm’s tool to crack phone months after ties severed, report finds

Russian authorities used tools from the Israeli company Cellebrite to break into the phone of a political prisoner, months after the company said it cancelled its contracts with Russia, an investigation by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab research unit has found . The case raises questions about how much control Cellebrite has over its own software, which allows users to easily break into phones and examine their contents. The tools are sold worldwide and widely used by police forces in the UK and the US. Andrei Pivovarov, the director of the organisation Open Russia, was arrested in May 2021 and released more than three years later as part of the high-profile exchange that also involved the US journalist Evan Gershkovich. While he was imprisoned, Russian authorities used forensic tools to break into his phone, extracting information about his contacts and his personal and professional life in what Pivovarov said was a “violation of his privacy” that put many of his colleagues at risk. “They tried to find my messages to other colleagues from my organisation and other politicians and may use these in criminal cases against them. After my arrest, several of my colleagues left Russia immediately,” he said. This information was used in building a criminal case against Pivovarov. …