On January 24 we received a pretty unusual email. The sender, a procurement officer from government contractor Cirrus Systems, wanted to buy multiple licenses for Graykey, the iPhone and Android hacking technology widely used by U.S. law enforcement and agencies.
“Hello sales Team, I hope this email finds you well,” the email started. “I would be grateful if you provide us with best/lowest price quote for the following items for Federal’s demand. Please assist in me in the below.”
This was a government contractor trying to buy a phone hacking tool directly from a group of journalists. So, pretty weird.
The email included a table laying out how many licenses Cirrus Systems is after (it looks like four). A statement of work (SOW) then lists what specific capabilities the desired system must be capable of doing. They include “full forensic acquisition capability for the latest generations of iOS as implemented on the latest iPhone (iPhone 16 at this time) cellular telephones,” and the same for “the latest generations of Android.”