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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the United States Technology Companies are designed to pitch digital forensic tools from which text messages, pictures, videos and contacts are designed to process and analyze America seized phones, laptops and other devices on the US borderAccording to the documents reviewed by the wired.

Agency A federal registry says in the list The tools that are looking for to have a very specific capacity, such as the ability to look for a “hidden language” in a person’s text messages; Identify specific objects like “red tricycle” throughout different videos; Chat access to encrypted messaging applications; And “Look for patterns” in large datasets for “Intel Generation”. The list was first posted on June 20 and updated on July 1.

CBP is using celebrities to extract and analyze data from devices From the 25thThe However, the company says it wants to “expand” and modernize its digital forensic program. Last year, CBP claimed, It has searched On more than 47,000 in electronic devices – which is almost a bit more than almost 41,500 devices It has searched in 2023 but it has been searched since 2015 Only more than 8,500 devicesThe

The so -called request (RFI) comes for information In the middle of a string of report Of the CBP Entered The United States, Sometimes the question About them Their travel plans Or Political beliefAnd at times Collect and search Their phone. A Lebanon Professor Authority was sent back to Lebanon in a high-profile incident in March Search his phone And alleged that he was “sympathetic” to the former Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, who was killed in September 2021.

In the RFI, the CBP said that it would like the digital forensic seller to sign an agreement in the quarter of the third fiscal year of 2026, which runs from April to June. There are eight active agreements for CBP’s Selbest software, licenses, equipment and training – more than $ 1.3 million – which will end between July 2025 and April 2026. CBP seems to use tools other than the cellbite. The company says in the recent list that it uses “different types of digital data drainage tool” but it does not name these tools.

CBP did not respond to requests for comments. Cellbite spokesperson Victor Cooper told Warder that the agency “Unable to comment on active requests for information proposals.”

The list of three federal contracts is mentioned in the CBP Cellbrite Universal Forensic Extraction Device 4 PC, pays for the software designed for data analysis On the existing PC or laptop of any user. The list of “license renewal” does not mention any specific product but it may refer to the investigating digital intelligence platform, which is celebrity The “end to end” suit of tools To analyze data from the device.

Users have a wide capacity, covers the intelligence platform of Celbitite. It could Pick the figure They are based on whether they have some ingredients like jewelry, handwriting or documents. It may also go through the text messages as well as direct messages In applications like TicktocksAnd Message filters out It mentions specific issues, such as proof barriers, family or police. Users can also Unveil the “hidden” photos By the owner of a device, Create social maps Friends and acquaintances, and Plot the locations Where a person has sent text messages.