
So I bought something at a thrift store, it's a “Cellebrite Touch” - pentestercrab
https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1135354815259656192
======
floren
'I tried hooking up the micro-usb cable to an older android phone I had
sitting around and it goes "OH YEAH THAT'S AN HTC ONE. WHICH MODEL IS IT?"
Scary.'

USB vendor/product ids: very spooky? [http://www.the-
sz.com/products/usbid/index.php?v=0x0BB4&p=0x...](http://www.the-
sz.com/products/usbid/index.php?v=0x0BB4&p=0x0DEA&n=)

~~~
Spivak
Wait until he finds our that you can figure out manufacturer from MAC
addresses too.

------
teekert
Cellebrite in an Israeli company that specializes in extracting data from
phones. The device bought in the thrift store appears to be a device to copy
data from phones already unlocked and open, in other words, not the most
interesting device they have, and it's from 2014. Still a nice read though.

------
iscrewyou
Used to work at Best Buy in Mobile. and used this POS all the time. It was
good when it worked. A lot of the time it was not working because it had to
get flashed by connecting to the Ethernet port. We used it to transfer
information from one phone to another. It did work with almost any phone. You
just had to Find the right kind of cable for every phone back then. Sometimes
it would even connect and transfer via Bluetooth. Good times.

~~~
NikolaNovak
One thing caught my eye any clue what a Microphone is doing on a device like
that?

[https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1135361988526084099](https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1135361988526084099)

~~~
iscrewyou
We never used the mic functionality. But maybe some kind of audible way to
detect phones on a different pitch? Like they do with Alexa now a days.

~~~
dmix
You already answered this question earlier. It’s just some off the shelf
Chinese computer that’s used for multiple different products.

------
gaspoweredcat
i heard about these things but never used one myself (although i had access to
a similar if ess user friendly data extraction tool called a DM3 used for
nokia and blackberry forensics etc)

they were mainly for forensic or data recovery and sometimes unlocking or
password removal. i can tell you that the left side will almost certainly be
for various data clips/cables (usually over UART) which usually use an RJ45
although some older ones used the serial connector and a 3.5mm jack, use of
RJ45 cables is still fairly common as some models can only be unlocked via
UART

im also not sure the sim card slot is actually for sim cards as such but more
likely a smartcard auth token for software licences, most unlocking solutions
etc are sold as a "box" which is essentially a USB>UART and a USB smartcard
reader with a card for the software licence, it may even have accepted 3rd
party licences such as infinity etc as i believe they were meant to be a sort
of all in one solution. although it may have been for sims if it was
recovering contacts and messages stored on the sim

as for why it was there i guess its just ended up unused then gotten chucked
out in a clear out, old kit tends to fall by the wayside in this game despite
it initially being quite expensive (ask anyone in the mobile biz for any
decent amount of time and they almost certainly have an MTbox/MXbox laying
about) generally by the time its obsolete its more than paid for itself and is
really pretty useless unless you work on a lot of very old stock

places ive worked at had dozens of old unused unlocking boxes and the like
which eventually ended up in various tote boxes etc and when the business
moved the majority ended up in the skip (where people soon came to try and dig
out any potentially worthwhile bits) i suspect this found its way to the store
in a similar fashion

it may not actually be much use in this day and age but its an interesting
find

~~~
jpindar
>im also not sure the sim card slot is actually for sim cards as such

One of the choices under "phone vendor" was "simcard".

~~~
jandrese
Presumably it was for dumping the address book off of the simcard.

------
SyneRyder
This was way more interesting than the title suggests, so if you don't know
what a Cellebrite is (like I didn't), keep reading the thread. For people who
do know what it is, the real question is "what the hell was that doing in a
thrift store?!"

~~~
peterwwillis
Back in the day you'd find random gear like this just thrown in dumpsters when
it became obsolete or replaced. Rarely was data wiped correctly. I can see a
misguided intern thinking, "someone else must be able to use this!", or it
just getting into a donation pile by accident.

~~~
TheCapn
My assumption is dumpster -> dumpster driver -> pawn shop/thrift store

------
cannot-remember
This device is used in commercial apple stores for transferring data off
customers old, non-apple phones. Pretty straightforward service, hardly a
curious device.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
"Not news to you personally" is not the same thing as "not interesting."

~~~
myself248
Cellebrite makes devices for forensics, and they make devices for cellphone
stores. This is the latter. Definitely not interesting.

It's like saying "I found a Diebold fountain pen, can I learn about ATMs from
it?". No. It's not the same thing.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
I've never seen one of these gizmos before. It's new and interesting to me.
It's got three RJ45 ports! That's weird! Sure, it's not _as_ interesting as if
the guy had found a government forensic tool at the thrift store, but it's
still interesting.

Let people enjoy things.

------
nebfold
I used to work in a mobile phone shop and we had these to transfer data
between old and new phones. With regards to the SIM slot, SIM cards can store
around 100 phone numbers and many people that swap phones regularly do keep
their contacts on a SIM card. SIM cards can wear out over time so this was
useful for swapping phone numbers from an old SIM to a new one or a nanoSIM
etc.

------
stcredzero
Up the build quality, but keep the hyper rugged design philosophy, round
things off so it slides into a backpack easily, make sure there's plenty of
ports, and I'd consider buying tablet PC with about this form factor. (Yes,
yes, I could just buy a tablet PC and put it in a paranoid-level ruggedized
case.)

------
stordoff
If it's telling you to configure settings on the device, can it be considered
forensic? Something about that feels off.

~~~
breakingcups
At the end of the thread, Foone posts this:

'correction, which explains some of the weirdness like the "buy-back" thing.
This isn't a Cellebrite UFED Touch, it's a Cellebrite UME (Universal Memory
Exchanger ) Touch. This means it's designed for phone stores to transfer data
off old phones onto new phones and such. This is why it can't hack the phones,
just copy data off them. It just seems they built their UFED platform and UME
platform on the same hardware base.

It also makes a lot more sense why this ended up in a thrift store.'

------
tomcam
Grady Booch even gets in on the action:
[https://twitter.com/Grady_Booch/status/1135459629658329090?s...](https://twitter.com/Grady_Booch/status/1135459629658329090?s=20)

------
NoPicklez
These devices are used heavily in telecommunications for transferring data
from almost any model device to another. Very useful when customers transfer
from an old Nokia to say a brand new iPhone.

------
ilikenwf
You can find these on ebay...

~~~
latchkey
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cellebrite-Touch-Phone-Data-
Transfe...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cellebrite-Touch-Phone-Data-Transfer-
Machine-Cables-and-Case-No-License/333216190176)

------
_bxg1
What a ride.

------
icelancer
Before people complain (like last time) on why Foone doesn't just blog...

[https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1135439789090574338](https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1135439789090574338)

[https://twitter.com/foone/status/1100068394001256448](https://twitter.com/foone/status/1100068394001256448)

[https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1066547670477488128](https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1066547670477488128)

~~~
prepend
Self awareness helps, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating or easier to
read because of vis chosen format.

It’s a free world and whatnot, but Twitter is a poor medium for these kinds of
stories. It took me at least twice as long due to scrolling, squinting, etc.

~~~
Doxin
So given the choice between no content or oddly formatted content you'd go for
no content?

~~~
prepend
That’s exactly what I did, so yes.

This is a cool topic and OP put some effort into a cool investigation. But
half way through I gave up because twitter kept bugging me to open an app and
adjust some setting. It also used 25% of the screen showing framing info.

~~~
piker
So you agree then that given the existence of free will, it's better that the
author tweet this story than [not] blog it and thus allows folks like yourself
to ignore it while others who don't mind can read and enjoy.

~~~
prepend
It’s better that we try to reduce false dichotomies and that the author
improve the readability of content by using more appropriate tools.

~~~
icelancer
>> author improve the readability of content

This is, again, a subjective opinion. You are free to improve the readability
of his content on your own using all the tools that are available. Given
Foone's audience, he's doing well enough and people enjoy consuming his
content as he decides to publish it.

Your authoritarian stance here is really condescending and odd.

------
tty2300
Does anyone have the link that turns a twitter thread in to a blog post? This
is unreadable.

~~~
Jaruzel
[https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1135354815259656192.html](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1135354815259656192.html)

~~~
tty2300
Thanks. Fascinating article.

------
nasredin
Thank you for the TLDR.

Terrible writing and Twitter is a fatal combo.

~~~
dang
We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20080987](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20080987)
and marked it off-topic.

------
Lowkeyloki
Anyone else read this and think "Celibate Touch"?

