Who is the person behind the company that helped the FBI break the iPhone lock?

Cellebrite, the company loved by the British police, has stepped out of the shadows to prepare for an IPO.
Yossi Carmil, one of the founders of iPhone jailbreak service provider Cellebrite. Photo: (Cellebrite)

Kayleigh Haywood, a 15-year-old girl from Measham, Leicestershire, met her killer via Facebook. When the girl’s body was discovered, police used a special phone to unlock her device – which was locked and severely damaged – to extract information. The evidence obtained helps the police find the culprit, which is the neighbor Stepen Beardman. It also exonerated a suspect. Previously, this technology helped the FBI unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter after Apple refused to cooperate, as well as collect evidence after the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Florida (USA). Of course, there will be objections to a company that helps the government hack their phones. That makes Cellebrite, the Israeli company behind the jailbreak device, a target of attacks by human rights groups around the globe, who fear it could be used for wrongdoing. Yossi Carmil, one of the founders and CEOs of Cellebrite, says Cellebrite’s “moral compass” remains intact. He describes himself as “good people who support heroes in their work”, which is saving lives, maintaining peace in the community. Cellebrite was originally a company that provides backup, transfer and restore smartphone data, partnering with carriers such as Orange, T-Mobile, Carphone Warehouse. About 10% of their business comes from private companies that need to extract data from employees’ phones for HR reasons, intellectual property theft or fraud investigations. Mr. Carmil, 54, has close ties to the military and police. He spent four years in the army, where he was a combat soldier and special forces officer. He called it a “proud” period. He used to work for the Israeli Defense Ministry before moving to Europe to live for 10 years, working at Bosch and Siemens. He spent most of this time in Germany, where he earned an MBA from Ludwig Maximilian University. He returned to his hometown of Israel after the death of his sister, later married and had three children. His 19-year-old eldest son Carmil is also serving in the army, currently stationed at the border between Israel and Gaza. Breaking encryption applications, violating user privacy, making Carmil’s image worse in the eyes of technology leaders. Moxie Marlinspike, CEO of the secure messaging app Signal, once published an article detailing a vulnerability that could change the content of messages when Cellebrite extracts them, damaging important evidence. However, Mr. Carmil said that exploitation of that vulnerability never happened in practice. For Mr. Carmil, the UK is an important market with about 50 law enforcement agencies using their technology. In addition to 17 sales and marketing staff in Europe, Cellebrite will hire more researchers and developers. In total, the company has about 300 employees, some of which have been brought in from other intelligence organizations and technology firms. When asked how to ensure their technology is not used against innocent people or human rights, Mr Carmil said “it is my responsibility not to let the tools of power fall into the wrong hands”. Cellebrite has a legal department that writes policy and a compliance officer who reports directly to the CEO. Prior to the initial public offering, Cellebrite also established an independent ethics committee to prosecute Cellebrite for violations. Mr. Carmil said the company controls every license it sells remotely and can disable and blacklist any license, even when there is little doubt. Cellebrite is banned from selling technology to Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Recently, they decided to stop selling to Russia, Belarus and China. Often known as a shady company, silenced by secret contracts, Mr. Carmil wants more transparency ahead of the IPO. Du Lam (According to Telegraph)