ICE unit signs new $3 million contract for phone hacking tech

ICE unit signs new $3 million contract for phone hacking tech
Post Author webadmin
2025-09-19

ICE unit signs new $3 million contract for phone hacking tech

A man operates a Graykey phone hacking and unlocking device, made by Magnet Forensics. (Image: Magnet Forensics)
A man operates a Graykey phone hacking and unlocking device, made by Magnet Forensics. (Image: Magnet Forensics) | Image Credits:Magnet Forensics

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcement arm Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has signed a contract worth $3 million with Magnet Forensics, a company that makes a phone hacking and unlocking device called Graykey.

The contract, which appeared on Tuesday in a federal government procurement database, said it is for software licenses for the phone hacking tech for HSI “to recover digital evidence, process multiple devices, & generate forensic reports essential to mission of protecting national security & public.”

While the contract doesn’t mention the name of the product, it’s likely referring to Graykey, a forensic system to unlock smartphones and extract data from them, which was originally developed by Grayshift. Magnet Forensics merged with Grayshift following an acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2023.

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Apart from this most recent contract, the procurement database shows ICE and HSI signed several other contracts with Magnet Forensics and its partner Panamerica Computers, including:

Magnet Forensics did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

An ICE spokesperson acknowledged TechCrunch’s outreach but did not comment by press time. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

ICE has an extensive arsenal of tech tools, including facial recognition software provided by Clearview AI, cellphone spyware made by Paragon, and data analytics software made by Palantir, to support its mass deportations campaign.

Last year, ICE signed a contract with Magnet Forensics for Graykey, worth $5 million, as first reported by Forbes at the time. Graykey was launched in 2016 to compete with the more established phone hacking system UFED, made by Israeli company Cellebrite