FBI Apple iPhone hackers Cellebrite falls victim to web hack

Israeli company that helped FBI hack a locked iPhone 5C falls victim to web hack

Cellebrite, the Israeli company that helped the FBI hack into an encrypted Apple iPhone 5C last year, has fallen victim to hackers itself.

The company has admitted it on its website, with a statement that there was "unauthorised access to an external web server". It is now investigating the cause of the breach.

"The impacted server included a legacy database backup of my.Cellebrite, the company's end user licence management system. The company had previously migrated to a new user accounts system," it said.

"Presently, it is known that the information accessed includes basic contact information of users registered for alerts or notifications on Cellebrite products and hashed passwords for users who have not yet migrated to the new system."

It added that it did not believe there was any significant risk to customers as a result of the incident, but customers were nevertheless advised to change their passwords. Customers are also being notified of the incident.

"The company is working with relevant authorities regarding this illegal action and are assisting in their investigation," it said.

It does not appear the attack has any relation to the work the company did helping the FBI crack the iPhone's security.