ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. updates Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker, a mobile forensic tool for acquiring data from Apple and BlackBerry devices, adding over-the-air acquisition from Apple iCloud without requiring the user's Apple ID or password.
The new release enables password-free entry into suspects' iCloud accounts, providing forensic customers with true real-time access to information essential for an investigation. With password-free entry, ElcomSoft allows investigators accessing information stored in the suspect's account even if the original Apple ID and password are not known.
Password-free access to iCloud backups is made possible by using authentication tokens acquired from suspect's PC. ElcomSoft supplies all necessary tools to acquire and decrypt such tokens from Windows and Mac OS X computers. This breakthrough capability is unique to Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker, allowing investigators to have real-time access to information stored in Apple iCloud without having login credentials of the user.
"We learned to bypass the login and password authentication when accessing iCloud", says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "This is a major achievement of our researchers, and a breakthrough feature for our forensic customers".
The ability to bypass login and password authentication is available in the Forensic edition of Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker.
Using Authentication Tokens to Bypass iCloud Login and Password
More than two years ago, ElcomSoft equipped its Phone Password Breaker with the ability to download information from Apple iCloud, offering forensic specialists yet another way of obtaining important evidence. Originally, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker required to use the original logon credentials (Apple ID and password) to access information stored in the cloud. Because of this, cloud acquisition was mostly used by corporate customers rather than law enforcement. Today, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker finally gains the ability to bypass the login and password authentication and use authentication tokens that can be obtained from suspect's Mac or Windows PC.
Being able to use authentication tokens acquired from the suspect's computer is of major importance to forensic investigators. Authentication tokens can be obtained from the suspect's computer if iCloud Control Panel is installed and the user was logged into iCloud Control Panel on that PC at the time of token acquisition. The iCloud Control Panel is an integral part of Mac OS systems, and installs separately on Windows PCs. Most users will stay logged in to their iCloud Control Panel for syncing contacts, passwords (iCloud Keychain), notes, photo stream and other types of data. All this means that the probability of obtaining authentication tokens from PCs with iCloud Control Panel installed is high.
ElcomSoft supplies command-line tools allowing forensic specialists locating, extracting and decrypting binary authentication tokens stored on the suspect's computer. During the extraction, authentication tokens for all users of that computer can be extracted, including domain users (providing that their system logon passwords are known). Windows and Mac OS versions of this tool are available.
About iCloud Recovery
Apple iCloud is a popular service providing Apple users with storage space to back up the content of their devices.
According to Apple, some 250 million customers are using this online backup service.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker was the first and remains the only third-party forensic tool that can retrieve and decrypt backups stored in iCloud. The ability to access backups without having access to the physical device is a valuable feature among the company's forensic, law enforcement and intelligence customers. Notably, Apple does not provide means for downloading iCloud information to a PC, so Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker remains the only tool available for that purpose.
No lengthy attacks and no physical access to an iPhone device are required: the data is downloaded directly onto investigators' computers from Apple remote storage facilities in plain, unencrypted form. In order to gain access to online backups investigators need to know user's original Apple ID and password, or the authentication token extracted from suspect's computer.
If a user owns more than one device, and those devices are registered with the same Apple ID, their online backups can be seamlessly recovered from iCloud with no extra effort.
About Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker provides forensic access to encrypted information stored in popular Apple and BlackBerry devices. By recovering the original password protecting offline backups produced with compatible devices, the tool offers forensic specialists access to SMS and email messages, call history, contacts and organizer data, Web browsing history, voicemail and email accounts and settings stored in those backup files. The new iteration of the product can also retrieve information from online backups stored in Apple iCloud.
Pricing and Availability
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker is available immediately. Home, Professional, and Forensic editions are available. iCloud recovery is only in Professional and Forensic editions, while password-free iCloud access is only available in the Forensic edition. Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker Pro is available to North American customers for $199. The Home edition is available for $79. The Forensic edition is available for $399. Local pricing may vary.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker supports Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, as well as Windows 2003, 2008 and 2012 Server. Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker operates without Apple iTunes or BlackBerry Desktop Software being installed.
The new release enables password-free entry into suspects' iCloud accounts, providing forensic customers with true real-time access to information essential for an investigation. With password-free entry, ElcomSoft allows investigators accessing information stored in the suspect's account even if the original Apple ID and password are not known.
Password-free access to iCloud backups is made possible by using authentication tokens acquired from suspect's PC. ElcomSoft supplies all necessary tools to acquire and decrypt such tokens from Windows and Mac OS X computers. This breakthrough capability is unique to Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker, allowing investigators to have real-time access to information stored in Apple iCloud without having login credentials of the user.
"We learned to bypass the login and password authentication when accessing iCloud", says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "This is a major achievement of our researchers, and a breakthrough feature for our forensic customers".
The ability to bypass login and password authentication is available in the Forensic edition of Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker.
Using Authentication Tokens to Bypass iCloud Login and Password
More than two years ago, ElcomSoft equipped its Phone Password Breaker with the ability to download information from Apple iCloud, offering forensic specialists yet another way of obtaining important evidence. Originally, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker required to use the original logon credentials (Apple ID and password) to access information stored in the cloud. Because of this, cloud acquisition was mostly used by corporate customers rather than law enforcement. Today, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker finally gains the ability to bypass the login and password authentication and use authentication tokens that can be obtained from suspect's Mac or Windows PC.
Being able to use authentication tokens acquired from the suspect's computer is of major importance to forensic investigators. Authentication tokens can be obtained from the suspect's computer if iCloud Control Panel is installed and the user was logged into iCloud Control Panel on that PC at the time of token acquisition. The iCloud Control Panel is an integral part of Mac OS systems, and installs separately on Windows PCs. Most users will stay logged in to their iCloud Control Panel for syncing contacts, passwords (iCloud Keychain), notes, photo stream and other types of data. All this means that the probability of obtaining authentication tokens from PCs with iCloud Control Panel installed is high.
ElcomSoft supplies command-line tools allowing forensic specialists locating, extracting and decrypting binary authentication tokens stored on the suspect's computer. During the extraction, authentication tokens for all users of that computer can be extracted, including domain users (providing that their system logon passwords are known). Windows and Mac OS versions of this tool are available.
About iCloud Recovery
Apple iCloud is a popular service providing Apple users with storage space to back up the content of their devices.
According to Apple, some 250 million customers are using this online backup service.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker was the first and remains the only third-party forensic tool that can retrieve and decrypt backups stored in iCloud. The ability to access backups without having access to the physical device is a valuable feature among the company's forensic, law enforcement and intelligence customers. Notably, Apple does not provide means for downloading iCloud information to a PC, so Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker remains the only tool available for that purpose.
No lengthy attacks and no physical access to an iPhone device are required: the data is downloaded directly onto investigators' computers from Apple remote storage facilities in plain, unencrypted form. In order to gain access to online backups investigators need to know user's original Apple ID and password, or the authentication token extracted from suspect's computer.
If a user owns more than one device, and those devices are registered with the same Apple ID, their online backups can be seamlessly recovered from iCloud with no extra effort.
About Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker provides forensic access to encrypted information stored in popular Apple and BlackBerry devices. By recovering the original password protecting offline backups produced with compatible devices, the tool offers forensic specialists access to SMS and email messages, call history, contacts and organizer data, Web browsing history, voicemail and email accounts and settings stored in those backup files. The new iteration of the product can also retrieve information from online backups stored in Apple iCloud.
Pricing and Availability
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker is available immediately. Home, Professional, and Forensic editions are available. iCloud recovery is only in Professional and Forensic editions, while password-free iCloud access is only available in the Forensic edition. Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker Pro is available to North American customers for $199. The Home edition is available for $79. The Forensic edition is available for $399. Local pricing may vary.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker supports Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, as well as Windows 2003, 2008 and 2012 Server. Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker operates without Apple iTunes or BlackBerry Desktop Software being installed.
