You’ve probably never heard of Micro Systemation, nor are you likely to heard of their flagship software product, XRY. The company is based in Stockholm, Sweden and has a very narrow customer base for their software. Micro Systemation is a forensic software company and XRY is sold to military and law enforcement organizations. The software is used to extract data from smartphones of all kinds – iOS and Android.
Micro Systemation offers three variants on the XRY software. One works with your smartphone’s operating system in order to extract all the data your phone knows it has. The product description likens it to “the automated equivalent of manually examining each available screen on the device yourself and recording what is displayed.” The second product in the XRY lineup bypasses your phone’s operating system completely, extracting everything from your phone, including data you may have thought you deleted. The third XRY variant combines the two, allowing military and law enforcement organizations to choose which kind of extraction they want to perform.
XRY uses the same kinds of exploits that are used to jailbreak an iOS device or root and an Android device. It also bypasses all of your phone’s basic security protections. While a passcode may be effective in keeping someone who steals your phone from getting into it, it won’t keep XRY from getting at your data.
Micro Systemation recently updated their XRY software to version 6.2, and along with the update they released a video showing the software in action. Check it out below, then let us know what you think in the comments.
While most people are at least vaguely aware that software like this exists, it’s a little eerie to see it in action. It just goes to show that if you have anything to hide, your phone probably isn’t the best place to keep it or talk about it.