Cellebrite's UFED cracked an activist's iPhone 12 months after it claimed to have cut Russia off

Cellebrite's Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) pulled data from Andrey Pivovarov's iPhone 12 on June 17, 2021, exactly three months after the company publicly announced it was "immediately" ending all sales and services to the Russian Federation.

Citizen Lab matched the government's own forensic report to the phone

Pivovarov, a former executive director of Open Russia, was arrested May 31, 2021, and sentenced to four years in prison for running an "undesirable organization." He served most of that term in isolation until the August 2024 prisoner swap.

Citizen Lab researchers examined Pivovarov's iPhone 12 at the 2025 World Liberty Congress. They cross-referenced their findings with the forensic report that Russian authorities had handed to Pivovarov during his criminal case. That report, from the Ministry of Interior (MVD), explicitly stated that between June 15 and July 12, 2021, the MVD used Cellebrite's UFED 4PC device and UFED Physical Analyzer software to extract and analyze data from multiple devices.

Citizen Lab confirmed with high confidence that the UFED tool had been used on or around June 17, 2021. The MVD report notes it was unable to crack Pivovarov's MacBook due to full-disk encryption, a detail that underscores the practical value of strong encryption for at-risk targets.

Cellebrite's claims don't match what Russian authorities are doing

In March 2021, after reports that Cellebrite tools had been used against Lyubov Sobol and other Navalny associates, the company said it was blacklisting Russian agencies and terminating licenses. But official documents published by the Investigative Committee (SKRF) in 2022 show continued UFED use, and a 2024 investigation by Russian human rights group First Department found that authorities may have received software updates years after Cellebrite claimed to have cut off service.

Israeli investigative outlet Haaretz reported in 2020 that SKRF used Cellebrite tools more than 26,000 times. Mediazona reported in 2023 that the FSB used Cellebrite technology to extract data from anti-war activist Dmitry Ivanov's phone, after which he received an 8.5-year sentence.

Cellebrite's user agreement claims the company can remotely disable UFED devices if they are used unlawfully. The evidence from Pivovarov's case and others calls that capability into serious question.

What this means for the surveillance industry

Access Now, Citizen Lab, and Pivovarov jointly sent a letter to Cellebrite demanding the company explain these documented misuses and implement kill-switches, contract clauses, and victim funds. Cellebrite's June 24, 2026 response denied the allegations, stating that any legacy technology still in Russia is "obsolete" and "ineffective today." That position becomes hard to defend when the MVD's own report names the specific UFED model and software version that worked three months after the supposed cutoff.

If Cellebrite cannot effectively disable its tools in a sanctioned market, then every government that buys UFED knows that the company's exit promises are hollow. The next activist who hands over a device to authorities might well be handing over data through a Cellebrite pipeline that the company insists is dead.

Source: Russia used Cellebrite tool to jail activist after the company claimed to have ended contract
Domain: accessnow.org