ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. updates Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker with the ability to recover passwords protecting BlackBerry PlayBook backups. The tool offers forensic access to password-protected backups produced by Apple iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch devices and BlackBerry smartphones. ElcomSoft will also be adding PlayBook backup support to its dedicated Blackberry Backup Explorer in near future.
Background
BlackBerry PlayBook is a new player in the increasingly crowded market of consumer-friendly touch-screen tablet PCs. Apple was the first to fill the niche, releasing its first iPad in 2010 and selling more than 14.8 million units in 2010 alone.
Almost a year later, RIM has joined the game and released BlackBerry Playbook. No official statement has been made by RIM on the number of units sold, yet analysts estimate that some 250,000 devices have been sold during the first month alone, estimating the company to ship 450,000 units during its first fiscal quarter ending in May.
On July 21st, 2011, BlackBerry PlayBook has become the first tablet passing the FIPS 140-2 certification from NIST, making it the only tabled certified for US government use. Receiving the appropriate certification means the PlayBook is ready for deployment within U.S. federal government agencies. So far, no other tablet has received a similar certification.
Despite the newly acquired US government certification status, access to information stored in BlackBerry PlayBook devices can still be recovered by using forensic tools such as Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker.
About Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker provides forensic access to encrypted information stored in popular Apple and BlackBerry devices. By recovering the original password protecting offline backups produced with compatible devices, the tool offers forensic specialists access to SMS and email messages, call history, contacts and organizer data, Web browsing history, voicemail and email accounts and settings stored in those backup files.
In its current state, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker can recover the original plain-text password protecting the backups produced with all compatible devices (Apple iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook devices). The decryption is currently limited to backups produced by all Apple devices and BlackBerry smartphones. The ability to decrypt PlayBook backups is scheduled for the next update. However, if the password to a PlayBook backup is known or has been recovered with Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker, the backup can be restored to and analyzed on another PlayBook device.
BlackBerry PlayBook implements an updated, strengthened security, making password verification deliberately slow to combat break-ins. In order to speed up the recovery, ElcomSoft implemented GPU-accelerated attacks, offloading parts of computation-intensive jobs onto highly parallel units available in today's ATI and NVIDIA video cards.
Equipped with brute-force and advanced dictionary attacks with a wide range of permutations and benefiting from ElcomSoft patented GPU acceleration, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker can try tens of thousands passwords per second for BlackBerry-created backups.
ElcomSoft plans to add a PlayBook backup decryption module to the next version of Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker. The company will also be adding PlayBook backup support to its dedicated Blackberry Backup Explorer in near future.
Pricing and Availability
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker is available immediately. Home and Professional editions are available. Licenses start from $79.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker operates without Apple iTunes or BlackBerry Desktop Software being installed.
Background
BlackBerry PlayBook is a new player in the increasingly crowded market of consumer-friendly touch-screen tablet PCs. Apple was the first to fill the niche, releasing its first iPad in 2010 and selling more than 14.8 million units in 2010 alone.
Almost a year later, RIM has joined the game and released BlackBerry Playbook. No official statement has been made by RIM on the number of units sold, yet analysts estimate that some 250,000 devices have been sold during the first month alone, estimating the company to ship 450,000 units during its first fiscal quarter ending in May.
On July 21st, 2011, BlackBerry PlayBook has become the first tablet passing the FIPS 140-2 certification from NIST, making it the only tabled certified for US government use. Receiving the appropriate certification means the PlayBook is ready for deployment within U.S. federal government agencies. So far, no other tablet has received a similar certification.
Despite the newly acquired US government certification status, access to information stored in BlackBerry PlayBook devices can still be recovered by using forensic tools such as Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker.
About Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker provides forensic access to encrypted information stored in popular Apple and BlackBerry devices. By recovering the original password protecting offline backups produced with compatible devices, the tool offers forensic specialists access to SMS and email messages, call history, contacts and organizer data, Web browsing history, voicemail and email accounts and settings stored in those backup files.
In its current state, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker can recover the original plain-text password protecting the backups produced with all compatible devices (Apple iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook devices). The decryption is currently limited to backups produced by all Apple devices and BlackBerry smartphones. The ability to decrypt PlayBook backups is scheduled for the next update. However, if the password to a PlayBook backup is known or has been recovered with Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker, the backup can be restored to and analyzed on another PlayBook device.
BlackBerry PlayBook implements an updated, strengthened security, making password verification deliberately slow to combat break-ins. In order to speed up the recovery, ElcomSoft implemented GPU-accelerated attacks, offloading parts of computation-intensive jobs onto highly parallel units available in today's ATI and NVIDIA video cards.
Equipped with brute-force and advanced dictionary attacks with a wide range of permutations and benefiting from ElcomSoft patented GPU acceleration, Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker can try tens of thousands passwords per second for BlackBerry-created backups.
ElcomSoft plans to add a PlayBook backup decryption module to the next version of Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker. The company will also be adding PlayBook backup support to its dedicated Blackberry Backup Explorer in near future.
Pricing and Availability
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker is available immediately. Home and Professional editions are available. Licenses start from $79.
Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker operates without Apple iTunes or BlackBerry Desktop Software being installed.
