U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed a three million dollar contract with Magnet Forensics for software licenses. The contract is for the law enforcement arm of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations. It is for software that will help HSI recover digital evidence, process multiple devices, and generate forensic reports essential to its mission of protecting national security and the public.
While the contract does not name the specific product, it is likely referring to GrayKey. GrayKey is a forensic system used to unlock smartphones and extract data from them. It was originally developed by Grayshift. Magnet Forensics merged with Grayshift following an acquisition by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2023.
Beyond this new contract, a federal procurement database shows that ICE and HSI have signed several other recent contracts with Magnet Forensics and its partner Panamerica Computers. These include a one hundred forty-five thousand dollar subscription for Magnet Griffeye Enterprise, a platform that collects, processes, organizes, and analyzes data and evidence.
Other contracts include a ninety thousand dollar agreement for GrayKey Premier software renewal licenses for iOS and Android extractions for HSI in Detroit. A separate fifty-seven thousand dollar contract was for GrayKey software licenses to help HSI recover digital evidence on multiple devices for investigative operations. A final contract for twelve thousand dollars was for unspecified Magnet Forensics software licenses for HSI in Charlotte.
Magnet Forensics did not respond to a request for comment. An ICE spokesperson acknowledged an inquiry but did not provide a statement by press time.
ICE utilizes an extensive arsenal of technology tools to support its operations. This includes facial recognition software from Clearview AI, cell phone spyware from Paragon, and data analytics software from Palantir. Last year, ICE signed a separate five million dollar contract with Magnet Forensics for GrayKey. GrayKey was launched in 2016 to compete with the more established phone-hacking system UFED, which is made by the Israeli company Cellebrite.