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United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is asking tech companies to transportation integer forensics tools that are designed to process and analyse substance messages, pictures, videos, and contacts from seized phones, laptops, and different devices astatine the United States border, according to documents reviewed by WIRED.
The bureau said successful a national registry listing that the tools it’s seeking indispensable person precise circumstantial capabilities, specified arsenic the quality to find a “hidden language” successful a person’s substance messages; place circumstantial objects, “like a reddish tricycle,” crossed antithetic videos; entree chats successful encrypted messaging apps; and “find patterns” successful ample information sets for “intel generation.” The listing was archetypal posted connected June 20 and updated connected July 1.
CBP has been utilizing Cellebrite to extract and analyse information from devices since 2008. But the bureau said that it wants to “expand” and modernize its integer forensics program. Last year, CBP claims, it did searches connected much than 47,000 physics devices—which is somewhat higher than the astir 41,500 devices it searched successful 2023, but a melodramatic emergence from 2015, erstwhile it searched just much than 8,500 devices.
The alleged petition for accusation (RFI) comes amid a drawstring of reports of CBP detaining radical entering the US, sometimes questioning them astir their question plans oregon political beliefs, and astatine times collecting and searching their phones. In 1 high-profile incidental successful March, a Lebanese prof astatine Brown University’s aesculapian schoolhouse was sent backmost to Lebanon aft authorities searched her phone and alleged she was “sympathetic” to the erstwhile Hezbollah person Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated successful September 2024.
In the RFI, CBP said that the integer forensics vendor it chooses volition motion a declaration successful the 3rd fiscal 4th of 2026, which runs from April done June. CBP presently has 8 progressive contracts for Cellebrite software, licenses, equipment, and training—worth much than $1.3 cardinal successful total—that volition extremity betwixt July 2025 and April 2026. CBP appears to usage tools different than Cellebrite. The bureau said successful the caller listing that it uses “a wide assortment of integer information extraction tools,” but it doesn’t sanction these tools.
CBP did not respond to requests for comment. When reached for comment, Cellebrite spokesperson Victor Cooper tells WIRED that the institution is “unable to remark connected progressive requests for accusation proposals.”
Three national declaration listings notation that CBP pays for Cellebrite’s Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) 4PC, bundle designed to analyse information on a user’s existing PC oregon laptop. The listing for the “license renewal” doesn’t notation a circumstantial product, but whitethorn person referred to the Investigative Digital Intelligence Platform, which is Cellebrite’s “end-to-end” suite of tools of analyzing information from devices.
Across Cellebrite’s quality platform, users person a wide scope of capabilities. It tin sort images based connected whether they incorporate definite elements, similar jewelry, handwriting, oregon documents. It tin besides spell done substance messages, arsenic good arsenic nonstop messages on apps similar TikTok, and filter retired messages that notation definite topics, similar grounds obstruction, family, oregon the police. Users tin besides unveil photos “hidden” by a instrumentality owner, make societal maps of friends and contacts, and plot the locations wherever a idiosyncratic sent substance messages.
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