An Israeli cyber tech firm, Cellebrite, has sold Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and various police units products that are highly intrusive and can lead to gross human rights violations, despite the two countries not having diplomatic ties and Israeli norms prohibiting such deals. The spyware, which has been used by Pakistani agencies since 2012, can hack into password-protected mobile phones and copy all the stored data, including pictures, documents, text messages, and contact lists.
The technology can also infiltrate mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. It can be adapted to work on computers and drones as well. A 2021 catalog from Pakistan’s National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation includes a listing for a UFED Touch 2 by Cellebrite. It also advertises BlackBag’s Mobilize digital forensic technology, which Cellebrite acquired in 2020.
Cellebrite’s flagship product is a system called UFED, which allows law enforcement to hack into password-protected smartphones, extract data and record audio conversations. Its terms of service and end-user license agreement forbid its sales to certain countries, including Pakistan. However, international shipment records show that until at least 2019, Cellebrite Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd (a subsidiary in Singapore) sold the equipment directly to companies in Pakistan, according to Ha’aretz. Operating manuals and invitations to tender published by FIA and other police agencies in the country — past and present — “clearly show that the agencies use Cellebrite systems,” the newspaper said. Some FIA officials, past and present, who were tasked with enforcing the country’s draconian cybercrime laws, even state in their LinkedIn profiles that they are trained and certified to use the systems and that they regularly do so.
In a report last week, Amnesty International noted that Pakistan’s draconian cybercrime law had been used to target journalists and activists seeking to uncover the military’s alleged ties with terror groups and international crime syndicates. The organization called for the law to be repealed and warned that it could be used to silence freedom of expression.
Mack says selling Cellebrite’s systems to a regime like Pakistan’s is troubling because security forces can use it to persecute women, minorities, and LGBTQ people. He says it is an example of an Israeli company ignoring the global consequences of its sales to oppressive regimes and focusing solely on making profits.
In an email to Haaretz, an official from the Israeli government’s Ministry of strategic affairs they are told that the Israeli government is “aware of the potential risks associated with this type of technology,” adding that the government is taking steps to ensure that such tools are not being exported to countries that do not have a good relationship with Israel. He also said that the government does not allow any of its intelligence agencies to purchase Israeli products, including telecommunications gear. However, the official added that the Ministry was unaware of any specific instances in which the law had been breached.
