
The Extractor acquires contacts, chats, calls, calendars, notes, file system.In this piece we examine mobile phone extraction, relying on publicly available information and Privacy International’s experience from conducting mobile phone extraction using a Cellebrite UFED Touch 2. ITunes backups) even encrypted ones. It also allows to import device backups (i.e. Explore Evidence from Oxygen Forensic File Oxygen forensics backup file viewer exhibit all the electronic device evidence like contacts, messages, calls, calendars, notes, tasks, file system, user dictionaries, Wi-Fi. Oxygen forensics reader easily explore OFB files of any size (800 MB) & any type without making single changes in file format.
With MOBILedit Forensic you can view, search for or retrieve all data from a phone with only a few clicks. Just as new security features are announced for phones, so too new methods to extract data are found.Complete data extraction from phones and SIM. This is a rapidly developing area.
Oxygen Forensics File System Extraction Full Le System
Android and iOSOur analysis focuses on Android and iOS when looking at extractive technologies. Whilst forensics experts, hackers and those selling spyware may be able to access and extract data, we look at a number of the most well-known commercial companies who sell their products to law enforcement, such as Cellebrite, Oxygen Forensic Detective, and MSAB. Oxygen Forensics Phone Extraction technologies, known also as mobile forensics, entails the physical connection of the mobile device that is to be analysed and a device that extracts, analyses and presents the data contained on the phone. Android full le system File system extraction of Android OS 10 devices with File-Based Encryption as well as Android OS 7-10 devices based on Qualcomm chipsets with SPL no later than December 2020. General explanation of mobile phone extraction2. It will also retrieve all phone information such as.
This causes many Android phones to be running older versions of the operating systems which means various forms of extraction are viable. Mobile phone extraction could be characterised as an arms race, where vendors are constantly seeking to overcome obstacles of increased phone security.“We want to start with the bad news: if you are examining an iPhone that runs iOS 8 or newer … chances to unlock it are not good at all.With iOS 11 this problem becomes even more severe - even if the device under examination is not passcode-protected, the examiner will need the passcode anyway as it must be entered to confirm the trust between the device and your workstation.”An important differentiator between iOS and Android in terms of forensics capabilities is that whilst Apple can push updates directly to their users, patching vulnerabilities and exploits, Android users are predominantly reliant on the manufacturer and carrier to provide update. As USB restricted mode develops with iOS releases, for many in the world of forensics it is simply a challenge to overcome. “.without the passcode we can hardly extract anything from the modern iOS device.” For example iOS’s USB restricted mode, which first appeared in iOS 11.4.1, disabled USB communications after one hour of the last unlock which causes issues of those conducting an extraction. “According to IDC, in the first quarter of 2017, Android dominated the industry with an 85% market share.” iOS leads the way in relation to security and presents the biggest forensic challenge.
Techniques vary depending on the hardware and software of a phone, from the chipset (Qualcomm, MediaTek) to the operating system version. However, as the volume of data on phones explodes and “the mobile landscape is changing each passing day ” the ability to access, extract and analyse this data is increasingly difficult and complex. Today’s devices are mobile computing platforms, but accessing the data contained on these devices is much more difficult than accessing data from any other digital device.”Accessing and extracting data from phones is nothing new. Device operating systems have become more advanced, and the storage capacity on the current devices is astronomical. What current technologies are used to access, extract and analyse data from mobile phones?“Mobile device forensics is likely the most rapidly advancing discipline that digital forensics has ever seen or ever will see, primarily because of the rapidly changing environment of the actual devices. ” VulnerabilitiesIn evaluating MPE technologies, this project looks at some of the vulnerabilities used to obtain data, particularly for Android phones, such as the use of Emergency Download Mode for devices with the Qualcomm chipset.
As acknowledged by MobilEdit, a phone forensics company, when commenting on the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test results for mobile device acquisition:“Tests have also shown that there are significant differences in results between individual data types across the competitive tools tested. No one technology can access and extract all data from all phones, and no one type of extraction is guaranteed to be successful. On top of the encryption challenge is the manufacturing variants that can create different roadblocks along the way.”There are three generic types of extraction: logical, file system and physical, which provide a framework to consider extraction technologies. The operating system, security features, and type of smartphone will determine the amount of access you have to the data.”Encryption and other security measures present significant challenges.“As mobile technology continues to mature, and the amount security and encryption continues to strengthen, it’s becoming more of a challenge to know how to access data on smartphones that are password-protected.
Even if this is possible there is a view that “A logical acquisition should always be obtained as it may contain only the parsed data and provide pointers to examine the raw memory image.”Factors such as the status of the mobile device will determine whether logical or physical extraction is attempted. As it extracts the raw data at a binary level, from the devices storage. With a combination of tools you can get up to 89.6% overall success rate.”Physical acquisition is generally the preferred method. In the real world, when there is a case, each piece of evidence matters. Our conclusion is that there is a significant increase in the success rate when performing a cross-reference tool analysis.

Analysis: Access & extraction: physical, logical, file systemFirst an analysis of the three main types of extraction: logical, file system and physical and the tools used to carry these out. Increasingly these are marketed with artificial intelligence capabilities to assist investigators. Without cloud data, the information that can be gathered from traditional sources (such as mobile device, flash media, or computer) is limited, inconclusive, or simply unobtainable.”Once data is extracted there are some impressive products on offer to read and analyse extracted data.
JTAG (Joint Test Action Group), ISP (In System Programming) and Chip-off (or any associated hardware forensic methodology, such as inter-chip communication interception - If you are dismantling the device, you may be able to intercept the data as it travels from one microcontroller to another/processor, for example I2C or SPI, bypassing a software defined security model ) are more reliant on forensics skill as opposed to the newest technology and thus are mentioned briefly.JTAG is a method named after the industry standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. Source: Magnet ForensicsThere are other invasive methods to extract data from phones. As set out in a slide from Magnet Forensics (below), a logical extraction can be achieved via iTunes/ADB backup or installing an agent to pull additional data a File System using privileged access such as root or jailbreak and Physical using recovery or bootloader methods.Common Acquisition Methods. Source: Cellebrite articleUnder each generic method, companies may differ on the way they achieve the extraction.

