CBP Wants New Tech to Search for Hidden Data on Seized Phones

According to the wired -review documents, the United States is asking the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tech companies to develop digital forensics tools, which are developed by texts, photos, and texts, and texts, and texts, and text messages from the United States border.

Agency Said in the Federal Registry list That the tools that are looking for it should have very special abilities, such as the ability to find a “hidden language” in a person’s text messages. Identify specific items in different videos, such as “like a red trial,”. Get access to chats in encrypted messaging apps. And “Find Pattern” in major datases for “Intel Generation”. The list was first posted on June 20 and was updated on July 1.

CBP is using Selbright to extract and analyze data from devices Since 2008. But the agency said it wanted to “expand” and modernize its digital forensic program. Last year, CBP claims, He searched Over 47,000 electronic devices – which are almost slightly more than 41,500 devices She searched in 2023 but increased dramatically since 2015, when she found out Only more than 8,500 devices.

The so -called application for information (RFI) comes Between a string of reports Of cbp To insert people America, Sometimes asking About them Their travel projects Or Political beliefsAnd sometimes To collect and find His phone march in a high -profile incident, a Lebanese professor at Brown University’s Medical School was sent back to Lebanon after authorities. Looking for her phone And alleged that he was “sympathetic” with former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in September 2024.

In the RFI, the CBP said that the digital forensic vendor, which chooses it, will sign an agreement in the third fiscal quarter of 2026, which runs from April to June. CBP has eight active contracts for cellbrite software, licenses, equipment and training. It is more than $ 1.3 million in total – which will end between July 2025 and April 2026. The CBP appears to be using other tools other than Selbrite. The agency said in the recent list that it uses “different types of digital data extraction”, but these tools have not been named.

The CBP did not respond to the comments requests. Selbright spokesman Victor Cooper told Wired that the company “is” unable to comment on active requests for information suggestions. “

The list of three federal contracts is mentioned that CBP Selbright’s universal forensic extraction tool pays for 4 pcs, designed to analyze the software data. On a user’s current PC or laptop. No particular product is mentioned in the “License Renewal” list but may be able to refer to the Digital Digital Intelligence Platform, which is Celberrite. Tolls’s “end to end” sweetened To analyze data from devices.

In the Selbright intelligence platform, users have many capabilities. It can do Sort the pictures Based on whether they contain some elements, such as jewelry, handwriting, or documents. It can also undergo direct messages along with text messages On apps like TicotokAnd Filter the messages It mentions some titles, such as obstruction of evidence, family, or police. Users can also Mask the “invisible” images By the owner of a device, Make a social map Of friends and contacts, and Plot the places Where someone sent text messages.