Russian authorities hacked into the phone of a prominent political opponent using technology made by Cellebrite, even after the company claimed to have cut ties with Putin's government.
The case involves Andrey Pivovarov, a local human rights dissident and opposition politician, whose iPhone was hacked in June 2021. Researchers at The Citizen Lab found evidence that a Russian government investigative unit used a Cellebrite phone hacking tool to break into Pivovarov's phone.
This incident raises questions about the ability of Western tech companies to control how their tools are used once they're in the wild. Cellebrite had announced it would stop providing hardware and software to Russia in March 2021, but it appears the company's tools continued to be used by Russian authorities.
