Russia Used Cellebrite Tool to Hack Activist’s iPhone Despite Contract Cancellation

Citizen Lab’s forensic analysis shows Russian authorities used Cellebrite’s UFED to extract data from opposition politician Andrey Pivovarov’s iPhone in June 2021 despite the vendor’s public contract termination; investigators found a Cellebrite Host ID in USB connection logs and a Russian forensic report explicitly naming UFED tools, documented extracted communications and keyword searches, and flagged a possible link between the extraction and later FSB-linked phishing targeting individuals whose names were searched.