WikiLeaks: US Acquires Forensic Phone Data Kits Through Consulate in Germany

Due to the documents published by WikiLeaks it has become known that among the order requests made by the US diplomatic facilities there is such a device as a Cell Phone Analyzer with specifications that allow its owner to extract and decode all the data from Android, iOS and Windows mobile OS platforms, while "bypassing pattern lock/ password/ PIN". The device was ordered to be delivered to a US diplomatic facility in Yerevan, Armenia.

​​According to the "Purchase Request 50003172" made in April 2016 from the Regional Procurement Support Office (RPSO) of the American Consulate General in Frankfurt am Main, the device ordered for Armenia is able to decode "Apps data, passwords, emails, call history, SMS, contacts, calendar, media files, location information, etc.", while being able to do "foreign — language translation of content from extraction".

Another "Purchase Request 5560931" completed in November 2016 from Frankfurt am Main's RPSO included a list of various  items such as "software and hardware solutions for forensic examination of mobile phones", "laboratory tool and hardware solutions for forensic examination of mobile phones", "software for expert evaluation and data analysis" from computers, etc. The abovementioned items had to be delivered to the US Embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro.

WikiLeaks' Twitter account also provided information regarding last year's request made by the US Embassy in Panama, which "sought licenses for Cellebrite's Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) in order to extract data from the phones of people detained or arrested in Panama". The specifications of UFED became available after WikiLeaks' published the "US Embassy Shopping List".

​US embassies around the world purchase forensics devices that extract data from cell phones and bypass passwords. The US consulate in Frankfurt helped acquire forensics tools for the embassies in Armenia and Montenegro:

​​​On December 21 WikiLeaks made purchase orders from US embassies publicly available, providing information about more than 500 diplomatic requests that revealed hints about American covert operations.

"For example, in an August 2018 procurement request for 'Tactical Spy Equipment', the US Embassy in El Salvador asked vendors to provide 94 spy cameras, most disguised as everyday objects such as ties, caps, shirt buttons, watches, USB drives, lighters and pens," WikiLeaks' press release from December 21 reads.