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GrayShift is the company behind GrayKey, the device law enforcement uses when they have to enter a locked iPhone to collect evidence. These police departments tend to sign nondisclosure agreements with GrayShift and one of these documents was obtained by Motherboard. Moreover, it seems that it was not drafted.
While these types of documents are normally heavily redacted to ensure that some of their content cannot be read by people like us, this one seems to have been missed – giving us new insight into GrayKey’s capabilities and what police departments must do if they want to use it.
One section highlighted by Motherboard concerns GrayKey’s ability to bypass USB Restricted Mode, a condition introduced in iOS 11.4.1 that was designed to prevent devices like GrayKey from functioning. This was taken from a document signed by Illinois State Police earlier this year.
“Without limitation and without precedent, you acknowledge and agree that you will not disclose the existence of GrayKey features and solutions designed to bypass USB Restricted Mode released in iOS 11.4.1 and updated in future iOS versions updated to your available at or about the date hereof, “one section reads. The document adds that” If this feature is used on one or more iOS devices, it is of critical importance that these iOS devices remain in your possession and under your control until the Software Agent has been successfully installed on the iOS device (s) and you acknowledge and agree to retain possession and control of such iOS device (s) until this moment. â€Generally speaking, an agent is software that is installed on a device.
As Motherboard notes, some agencies are trying to prevent the public from knowing that they have purchased GrayKey devices, a City of Orlando law enforcement official doing just that in 2018. “This will ban Purchasing from publish a notice of purchase and disclose the acquisition of this system. This will help protect our forensic examination techniques and capabilities, â€they wrote, asking that the purchase of the device be exempt from public records.
Apple continues to make changes to iOS and iPhones to prevent GrayKey cases from working, but it’s a cat-and-mouse hunt that will never end. GrayKey is widely recognized as the best iPhone hacking tool, and there isn’t much that Apple can do to change that just yet.
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