CBP Wants New Tech to Search for Hidden Data on Seized Phones
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Summary
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requesting new tools that enable them to conduct forensics on laptops, phones and other devices seized at US borders.
The request, published to a US federal registry, highlights the CBP’s requirement for tools that can do the following:
Find a “hidden language” in a person’s text messages and identify specific objects within images and videos, for example, a red tricycle.
Access encrypted chats from messaging apps.
Spot patterns in large datasets.
The contract is expected to be awarded in Q3 of calendar year 2026.
Cellebrite is one of many companies offering digital forensics services and products, and its tools are already in use by the CBP.
The company’s software can, for example, analyse the contacts, images and videos found on a user’s laptop or phone.
It can also reveal images that the owner of the device has attempted to hide and create social maps of people identified in the datasets.
In response to criticism regarding its technology being used by authorities in Serbia to hack journalists’ phones, the company said that such an action violated its licensing agreement.
