Citizen Lab links Cellebrite to the hacking of a Kenyan presidential candidate’s phone
Citizen Lab links Cellebrite to the hacking of a Kenyan presidential candidate’s phone
Publish Date: 2026-02-17 06:06:00
Source Domain: cyberscoop.com
Researchers have found forensic evidence suggesting that Kenyan authorities used Cellebrite’s phone-cracking technology on the device of a prominent human rights activist after arresting him, according to a report published Tuesday.
The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said the intrusion is a sign of growing abuse of Cellebrite’s technology. According to the report, after his widely criticized arrest in July amid mass protest, Boniface Mwangi noticed that his personal phone no longer required a password to access. The government initially suggested it might pursue terrorism charges, but later backed away from that and instead filed lesser offenses.
After the incident, Mwangi gave his phone to Citizen Lab for forensic analysis. The group said it found evidence of Cellebrite’s use, potentially to extract data from his device.
Mwangi told CyberScoop he felt a “very strong feeling of violation” after that, as his phone contained family photos, conversations with loved ones and even his plans for running for president, a bid he announced in August.
“I’ve been shot, I’ve been jailed, I’ve been tortured, I’ve been assaulted in many, many ways,” he continued. “So this is more emotional than physical, because I feel like someone was in your private thoughts — the things that you think, that you think should never be public.”
Citizen Lab said the incident showed that Cellebrite’s claims of safeguards against abuse via an ethics committee aren’t sufficient.
“Boniface Mwangi’s case wasn’t the first Cellebrite abuse case, and it won’t be the last, because Cellebrite has a global abuse problem,” John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the organization, told CyberScoop. “When Cellebrite sells their technology to a security service with a track record of abuses, journalists, activists, and people speaking their conscience are at risk. It’s time for Cellebrite to take action and prove that…
