French offensive cyber security firm Synacktiv has announced the launch of Revel·IO, a mobile device forensic access tool designed specifically for investigative authorities. Dedicated to mobile equipment, Revel·IO aims to meet the operational, legal and sovereignty requirements of European security forces and judicial institutions.
Digital technology has become central to modern criminal activity, fundamentally reshaping investigative practices. The widespread use of encryption on mobile devices, combined with the increasing sophistication of organised crime, has made access to seized smartphones a critical challenge for law enforcement and judicial authorities.
Often locked and protected by advanced security mechanisms, mobile phones now play a decisive role in police, judicial and intelligence cases. Yet gaining lawful access to their data has become a major operational bottleneck for investigators across Europe.
This new tool from Synacktiv is the result of more than three years of research and development led by the company’s offensive cyber security teams, in close collaboration with several European internal security agencies. Conducted within the framework of national priorities supporting strategic innovation, this R&D effort enabled the identification of exploitable vulnerabilities on mobile devices, while adhering strictly to the legal and procedural requirements governing judicial and intelligence investigations.
In criminal investigations, time is often decisive. Seized mobile phones have become digital vaults at the heart of cases involving organised crime, trafficking networks, terrorism, espionage, and counter-intelligence. Any delay in accessing their contents can jeopardise investigations, risk the loss of critical evidence, or slow key judicial decisions, including indictments or formal charges.
Revel·IO was developed to address this urgency. The tool enables faster access to mobile devices using accelerated brute-force unlocking methods tailored to device types and investigative scenarios. It also allows comprehensive extraction of data from seized devices, including full recovery of stored data, encrypted or not.
The solution is strictly limited to data acquisition. Revel·IO performs no analysis or interpretation of the extracted content. This design ensures seamless integration into existing chains of custody, preserves the tool’s neutrality in judicial proceedings, and leaves investigators and authorised experts fully responsible for data exploration.
At the heart of Revel·IO is a technical architecture that breaks with conventional mobile forensics methods. Rather than performing brute-force attacks directly on sealed devices or workstations, the tool externalises this process and offloads it to secure servers controlled by the client.
This design allows investigators to fully exploit available computing resources, particularly high-performance GPU infrastructures, while significantly reducing the constraints associated with the physical handling and immobilisation of digital evidence.
According to Synacktiv, the mobile forensics market is currently dominated by non-European actors, primarily based in North America and Israel. With Revel·IO, Synacktiv positions itself as the first French solution and a credible European alternative in this highly sensitive field. The tool forms part of a broader technological sovereignty strategy aimed at maintaining control over critical operational capabilities and reducing strategic dependencies.
Intended for police, gendarmerie, intelligence services, armed forces, and customs authorities in Europe, Revel·IO is strictly regulated, legally and contractually. In the medium term, Synacktiv plans a “with consent” version for qualified digital investigation actors, such as CSIRTs, CERTs, and judicial experts, strictly limited to authorised operations.
With Revel·IO, Synacktiv underscores its ambition to equip European security forces with a sovereign, controlled mobile forensics capability tailored to operational realities, at a time when rapid, secure and legally governed access to digital evidence has become a central challenge for internal security and defence
