technology
Russian authorities extracted messages from opposition figure's iPhone using Cellebrite device after March 2021 sales cutoff
TechCrunch reported that Russian investigators extracted data from Andrey Pivovarov's iPhone using a Cellebrite device months after the company said it stopped sales to Russian government customers. The extraction occurred after his May 2021 detention. Pivovarov was later released in a 2024 prisoner exchange.
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Russian authorities extracted WhatsApp and Telegram messages from the iPhone 12 of opposition figure Andrey Pivovarov using a Cellebrite UFED device in June 2021, according to a court document from the Russian government's Criminalist Expert Center.
The extraction took place after Pivovarov was detained and his devices were confiscated in May 2021. TechCrunch reported that Citizen Lab researchers identified forensic evidence of the UFED use on the phone.
Cellebrite announced in March 2021 that it would immediately stop selling technology to Russian government customers. The company's website states that as of that date it can stop devices from functioning or receiving software updates for former Russian customers.
Cellebrite chief marketing officer David Gee stated that the company stopped all sales and services to the Russian Federation in March 2021, terminated existing licenses, and began unwinding contracts.
Gee added that any use of legacy Cellebrite hardware in Russia after March 2021 is entirely unauthorized. The UFED search included queries for political terms and names of opposition figures. Pivovarov served as director of the opposition group Open Russia.
He was sentenced to four years in prison and released in August 2024 as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries that also freed Evan Gershkovich. Cellebrite, an Israeli company with a second headquarters in Virginia, sells hardware devices that unlock and extract data from cellphones. The Russian Embassy in Washington D.C.
