Hacker News Reader

So we have learned that some phone vendors give Cellebrite their phones before they reach market in order for them to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. Apple refuses to do business with these 'forensic' criminals.

Do not purchase a phone from a vendor that engages in this unethical practise.

View on HN

Cellebrite got its start with the UME, a phone memory transfer tool for carriers' (POS and support). Carrier-oriented tools are a major part of its operations, though there have been some talks about spinning this off to a separate company.

Cellebrite gets early access to phones NOT due to its forensics operations, but for UME, since carriers (and that's lots(!) of carriers worldwide) are very much interested in good consumer experience on the devices' launch day.

I actually doubt it's been particularly significant to its forensics operations.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com