On occasion we may have been sold the "iPhone is more secure" thing. In some aspects, Apple may unquestionably beat Google and vice versa, but it has been shown that it is "easier" to hack an iPhone than an Android phone
In the tests several mobile brands have faced each other, and the most curious thing of all is that the most "integral" mobile, in terms of security, has been the Huawei P20 Pro.
All of this comes about because of the comings and goings that the issue of privacy and security is currently having, in the face of the demands of the American government that continues to press for technology companies remove end-to-end encryption and be able to give access, or facilitate it, to relevant authorities such as the FBI.
There are two companies, which work jointly with the FBI, that have stated that they can knock down that encryption and access mobile data. They are high-end mobiles and the current market.
This is because there are a number of gaps and "blind spots" through which these specialized companies can easily access information.
According to the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), these types of checks and tests have little or nothing to do with the current debate between technology companies and governments.
Apparently, they carry out these tests as part of "training" in a constant study of current technologies so that, when faced with a real case, they know how to act exactly.
The idea, and for which the US government is pressing so hard, is for technology companies to facilitate the work of the FBI in order to investigate a terroristThis would mean jeopardizing the security and privacy of billions of Android and iPhone users. This is why the phone companies are so reluctant to budge.
It was already clear that Apple had not complied 100% with its encryption policy by allowing the FBI access to the iCloud thus facilitating investigations by authorities.
Going back to the hack, NIST's Computer Forensic Tool Testing program has software called UFED 4PC capable of accessing the data from almost any modern mobile being able to extract confidential information such as location, contacts, call log, messages, social media data, email, etc.
This software had it easy when they practiced with an iPhone X, as well as other models prior to the one mentioned. They were able to obtain all the information we discussed in the previous paragraph.
The UFED 4PC software was unable to obtain Gmail account information on the iPhones with which the software was tested, but it is enough for the police to ask for a warrant to access all emails and the cloud associated with Gmail accounts.
Cellebrite is a program capable of accessing mobile phones and obtaining information, especially messages.
With this program, various tests were carried out on various Android phones and the one that emerged victorious was the Huawei P20 Pro. Behind were other well-known models such as the Pixel 2, Samsung Galaxy S9, and tablets such as the Ellipsis 8 and Galaxy Tab S2.
Of all of them, except for Huawei, information was obtained, but it was incomplete and imprecise, since there was not enough data or social networks, or locations, searches, etc.
Detective Rex Kiser, who is in charge of digital forensics for the Police Department, said that Cellebrite is the best program out there today to access cell phones modern and get as much information as possible.
Cellebrite is a pretty good tool on both Android and iPhone, but it's got some competition. A competition that claims to be able to access all current iPhones.
That competency is called GrayKey, and according to NIST testing, this program is capable of get almost 100% of the data stored on an iPhone.
There are several programs capable of breaking mobile encryption today, but it depends on the country where the investigation is carried out, as well as which department it is in charge of, since the Police deal with a program, the FBI with another, computer forensics with another, and so on.
Anyway, to a certain extent it is much easier to hack an iPhone than an Android mobile, it depends on the program used, and the specific information that you want to extract.
