Netherlnds Forensic Institute cracked suspect’s iPhone 5

The Netherlnds Forensic Institute has gained access to an iPhone 5 belonging to a suspect. The NFI cracked the six-digit code ‘within a day’ according to NRC. It is not known how the institute did this.

It concerns an iPhone 5 that was in the possession of crown witness Nabil B. He is the witness in the large Marengo trial against top criminal Ridouan T. Nabil B. had the phone in his cell from September 2017 to February 9, 2018, where he used the device for personal contact with friends and family.

NRC was given access to a letter from the examining magistrate. It states that the Nethrlands Forensic Institute used ‘a special software program’ to unlock the iPhone. It is not known what kind of software it is and when the cracking happened. The letter also states that the phone was cracked ‘within a day’. In the past, the NFI has used software from the Israeli company Cellebrite more often.

It is not surprising that the NFI knows how to crack an iPhone, because it is an old model. The iPhone 5 came out in 2012. In America, a battle has been raging between the FBI and Apple for years. The police department wanted the company’s help with unlocking iPhones years ago, but Apple refused. The FBI bought a lot of hacking tools that worked on the iPhone 5c, a successor to the iPhone 5.

From Nabil B.’s phone, WhatsApp conversations were found that the examining magistrate wants to add to the criminal file. Nabil B. had previously stated that he would only use PGP phones. Maybe that was an Encrochat device. Earlier this month, the police managed to infiltrate its servers and were able to read along with millions of messages in real time.