After Amnesty's accusations: Cellebrite no longer works with Serbia

The Israeli security company Cellebrite has banned Serbian security authorities from using the manufacturer's spyware tools. According to a blog post, the company is responding to a report by human rights organization Amnesty International in December 2024, in which Amnesty criticized Serbian authorities for using Cellebrite's software against journalists and activists.

Cellebrite then announced an investigation. After around two months, the company has now announced that it is "appropriate to stop the use of our products by the customers in question". Cellebrite does not provide details of the results of the investigation. The company assures that it takes seriously when customers are accused of misusing the technology and violating the terms of use.

In mid-December, Amnesty reported that the Serbian police and the Serbian secret service were using forensic tools from Cellebrite to extract data from mobile devices belonging to media professionals and activists. Dabeo alleges that people's devices were infected with customized spyware during their arrest or interrogation by law enforcement agencies. Amnesty has described Cellebrite's tools as "instruments of broader state control and repression against civil society".

Cellebrite specializes in cracking mobile devices and, according to its statements, only offers its services to "democratized nations" around the world. When using the technology, they must adhere to "ethical and lawful" principles. The software was used, for example, to gain access to the smartphone of the assassin who attempted to shoot US presidential candidate Donald Trump last summer. However, Cellebrite and other companies have repeatedly been accused of using their tools not only by democratic states, but also in autocratic states and against the civilian population.

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