Cloud Acquisition via Apple iCloud and Microsoft Account

Cloud acquisition is a highly effective way of retrieving up-to-date information backed up or synced by modern smartphones with their respective cloud services. Elcomsoft Phone Breaker supports the extraction of cloud backups and synced data from Apple iCloud and Microsoft Account, enabling remote acquisition of iPhone and iPad devices as well as Windows devices, Skype and other Microsoft software.

Online backups and synchronized data can be acquired by forensic specialists without having the original iOS device in hands. All that’s needed to access online data stored in the cloud service are the original user’s authentication credentials including the second authentication factor.

End-to-End Encryption in iCloud

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker enables access to iCloud data with end-to-end encryption. Protected categories include iCloud Keychain, iCloud Messages, Health, Screen Time and Maps data. Accessing end-to-end encrypted data requires the user's full authentication credentials including second authentication factor, as well as a system password or screen lock password to one of the user's devices.

iCloud Keychain

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker is the only tool on the market to access, extract and decrypt iCloud Keychain, Apple's cloud-based system for storing and syncing passwords, credit card data and other highly sensitive information across devices. As opposed to authorizing a new Apple device, Elcomsoft Phone Breaker does not become part of the circle of trust and does not require a middleware device, thus offering truly forensic extraction of protected records.

Screen Time Passcode

The Screen Time passcode is an optional feature in iOS 12/13/14 and newer versions that can be used to secure the Content & Privacy Restrictions. Once the password is set, iOS will prompt for the Screen Time passcode if an expert attempts to reset the device backup password (iTunes backup password) in addition to the screen lock passcode. As a result, experts will require two passcodes in order to reset the backup password: the device screen lock passcode and the Screen Time passcode. Since the 4-digit Screen Time passcode is separate to the device lock passcode (the one that is used when locking and unlocking the device), it becomes an extra security layer effectively blocking logical acquisition attempts.

By extracting and analyzing Screen Time information, experts can extract Screen Time passwords,

thus gaining the ability to remove Screen Time protection and/or to reset the password protecting local (iTunes) backups. This in turn makes logical acquisition easily possible.

iCloud Messages and Health Data

Apple supports Health and Messages sync through iCloud. Elcomsoft Phone Breaker is the first tool on the market to extract and decrypt messages from iCloud complete with attachments, extract and decrypt Health data. To access Health and Messages, the login and password to the user's Apple Account, one-time code to pass Two-Factor Authentication and a screen lock password or system password for one of the already enrolled devices are required.

Access iCloud without Login and Password

If the user’s Apple ID and password are not available, Elcomsoft Phone Breaker may be able to use a binary authentication token to access limited sets of synchronized data. The use of authentication tokens allows bypassing two-factor authentication even if no access to the second authentication factor is available.