What is Mobile Forensics? Definition, Processes, & Examples

The difference between a contained mobile security incident and a company-ending breach often comes down to one thing: how quickly you can get answers. Mobile device forensics techniques proven by every law enforcement agency worldwide can cut your incident response time in half. When forensic analysis reveals exactly what happened, when, and how, you move from damage control to strategic response.

At SecurityScorecard, organizations with A-grade security ratings are 13.8x less likely to experience breaches compared to F-grade organizations. Organizations use security ratings measure security posture performance and prioritize remediation.

What is Mobile Forensics?

Mobile forensics is the process of recovering digital evidence from mobile devices using accepted methods. Unlike traditional digital forensics investigations, mobile forensics solely focuses on retrieving information from mobile phones such as smartphones, Android phones, and tablets. This field has evolved significantly from early feature phones to today’s sophisticated digital devices that store vast amounts of personal and business data.

Mobile devices contain abundant information, from text messages and web search history to location data, making them extremely useful for a criminal investigation by law enforcement.

Key Tools and Technologies in Mobile Forensics

Today’s digital investigations require essential tools purpose-built for mobile environments. Forensically sound tools typically include hardware and software that encompass a variety of mobile operating systems and security features.

Professional digital investigators rely on industry-leading platforms like Oxygen Forensics and Magnet Forensics as their primary commercial tool solutions for comprehensive mobile analysis. Tools for mobile forensics consist of everything from physical extraction tools to sophisticated forensic software tools that can perform file system analysis as part of a completely integrated toolkit for the analysis of all aspects of any case, including cloud forensics.

Determining which forensic tools to use will likely depend on the details of the specific case, the mobile device in question, and how much access investigators have to the device. Also, investigators often have to use multiple tools to obtain a complete picture of the evidence landscape when conducting professional mobile device investigations.

What is An Example of Mobile Forensics?

Forensic investigators must track activities across multiple devices to get the full picture of events. For example, a hacker may have used a vulnerable device to gain access to the network and spread it across other, more sensitive devices. Investigators must understand both the device file structure and the file system structure to accurately assess the course of events.

During mobile device investigations, experts often encounter complex scenarios where crucial evidence is distributed across multiple storage locations. Modern mobile malware can spread between devices, requiring digital investigators to perform comprehensive file system extractions using commercial tools to trace the infection path. User activity logs become particularly important when analyzing how malware propagates through an organization’s mobile device ecosystem.

Why is Mobile Forensics Important?

Mobile devices carry a significant amount of information. Mobile forensics is extremely important because it requires an understanding of  the full picture and scope of a digital attack.. In 2021, there were 15 billion mobile devices operating worldwide. That’s nearly two per person. The amount of data stored across these devices is astounding. 

One significant difference between mobile and traditional computer forensics is that systems are no longer isolated and absolute. Commonly used devices like phones, cars, cameras, doorbells, and even refrigerators are interconnected and can operate under one network, requiring advanced techniques to analyze the interconnected ecosystem properly.

Mobile forensics often reveals that breaches originate from third-party vendors with poor security ratings. SecurityScorecard’s platform continuously monitors your vendor ecosystem, identifying vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by threat actors. This proactive approach transforms security from reactive forensics to predictive risk management.

What Are the Steps in the Mobile Forensics Process?

The mobile forensics legal process requires digital investigators to follow specific protocols to ensure crucial evidence remains admissible in court. Here are the steps in the mobile device forensics process.

Step 1: Seizure

The mobile forensics process begins with the seizure of the devices in question. Like any other evidence in a forensic investigation, the devices must be handled with great care to preserve evidence and prevent mishandling.

Step 2: Acquisition

After the device is seized and secured, it’s time to extract the evidence through file system acquisition. That’s done by duplicating its files with a specialized tool or software imaging platform. The duplicate maintains the integrity of the original device files and can be used as evidence for the original copy.

Step 3: Analysis

Mobile devices contain loads of data. The “analysis” step of the forensic process focuses on extracting useful and relevant information through comprehensive file system analysis.

During this critical phase, forensic experts utilize specialized tools to examine the file system structure and identify patterns that might not be immediately apparent. This includes analyzing deleted files, examining metadata, and correlating timestamps across different applications and system processes. Log files often provide crucial insights into user behavior and system events that occurred before, during, and after suspicious activities.

Step 4: Examination

Lastly, the gathered evidence must be presented to forensic examiners or a court that will determine its relevance to the case. This presentation must clearly demonstrate how the electronic evidence was collected, analyzed, and preserved throughout the digital forensics investigation process.

What are the Challenges of Mobile Forensics?

The biggest challenge in mobile forensics is keeping up with the rapid pace of change in mobile technology. New devices and operating systems are constantly being released, each with its unique file system and data storage methods. This makes it challenging for mobile forensics experts to stay current with the latest changes.

More broadly, the challenges associated with mobile forensics fall under the following categories:

Differences in hardware

Mobile devices come in all shapes and sizes, with different types of hardware. This can make it difficult to develop mobile forensics tools that work on all devices.

Password security and encryption

Many mobile devices are password-protected and encrypted, making data recovery and mobile forensics difficult.

Mobile operating systems

There are many different mobile operating systems, each with its own file system and data storage methods. This can make data acquisition and interpretation difficult.

Accidental device reset

One of the most common problems mobile forensics experts face is when a user accidentally resets their device. This can delete all the device files and log files, making it difficult to recover key evidence.

Lack of tools and equipment

Mobile forensics is still a relatively new field, and relatively few tools exist. This makes it difficult to perform mobile forensics efficiently.

Anti-forensic techniques

As mobile forensics becomes more popular, criminals are also becoming more aware of it and are using anti-forensic techniques to prevent their data from being recovered.

Mobile platform security features

Many mobile devices have built-in security features that can make data recovery difficult. For example, Apple’s iPhone has a “Secure Enclave” feature that encrypts all the data on the device.

Preventing data modification

One goal of mobile forensics is to preserve data on a mobile device so it can be used as evidence in court. However, this can be difficult if the data is constantly modified. Many mobile devices automatically delete old data to make room for new data, making it difficult to recover deleted data.

The dynamic nature of evidence

Mobile devices constantly change, making it difficult to keep track of all the data on them. A user might install a new app or delete an old one, which can change the data on the device. This makes it difficult to know what data is relevant and what isn’t.

Device alteration

Mobile devices can be easily altered. For example, a user might root their device, which modifies the default data on the device and makes it difficult to recover.

Communication shielding

This is when a user uses a mobile device to communicate with someone they don’t want to be tracked. For example, they might use a burner phone or an encrypted messaging app. This can make it difficult to recover the data from the mobile device.

Malicious programs

These programs are designed to prevent mobile forensics experts from accessing data on a mobile device. For example, a user might install a program that encrypts all the data on their device.

Legal issues

Mobile device forensics can be used to recover sensitive electronic evidence for use in the legal process. However, many laws govern how this data can be used. For instance, there are laws that protect a user’s privacy.

Mobile Forensics Use Case from the SecurityScorecard Forensics Lab

Developed by Israel’s NSO Group, Pegasus is the most sophisticated mobile device malware. It is mainly used by nation-states for intelligence gathering. However, it is also occasionally abused for malicious activities.

Pegasus is dangerous because it is self-destructive malware, which makes it very difficult to trace. It can infect a device with no user input. All a hacker needs is their victim’s phone number. Once the malware is in the system, it can track everything from phone calls and text messages to photos and passwords.

Our team is very familiar with the tradecraft associated with Pegasus attacks. We are adept at finding even the most minute evidence of these attacks, even after Pegasus has “self-destructed” and “wiped” the phone of any evidence of the penetration.​

In early 2021, we analyzed multiple devices (iPhones) compromised by the Pegasus spyware.

In analyzing all of the devices, we used Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) that we developed internally through our digital forensics work and collaboration with other investigators.

Here are the first suspicious processes that our team identified:

​“misbrigd” and “libbmanaged” performed (Note: delete link) data exfiltration, meaning, these are system artifacts that show what tools the Threat Actors used to take data out from the iPhone.

The libbmanaged process was running for over a week, based on a record from the DataUsage.sqlite database:

This implies not only (Note: delete link)  data exfiltration, but also real-time monitoring and voice recording of the victim. This is important to note, since in most attacks, threat actors just want to get data and move on. This time, it seems monitoring was also part of their key objective. ​

The Pegasus investigation demonstrates why SecurityScorecard combines forensics capabilities with threat intelligence. Our Attack Surface Intelligence platform would have detected the suspicious network traffic patterns weeks before the malware’s self-destruction.

Mobile Forensics with SecurityScorecard

A critical component of many forensics cases is extracting information and data from mobile devices. SecurityScorecard Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR) services can answer questions about:

• phone calls
• chat messages
• images
• videos
• hidden stored artifacts

Geolocation, GPS, and EXIF metadata stored on mobile devices can also provide significant forensic value.

The SecurityScorecard team has conducted a large number of high-profile matters in civil and criminal proceedings, including analysis of advanced malware engineered by sophisticated state-sponsored attackers. 

Our digital forensics experts have played a key role in a wide range of criminal cases involving a digital element, including organized cybercrime, online money laundering schemes, cyberstalking, data breach litigation, digital extortion, ransomware hacking incidents, DDoS attacks, and more.

We conduct both a static analysis, where all components of the malware are dissected and analyzed to understand the attack and help eliminate the infection effectively, and a dynamic analysis that examines the behavior of the malware in question.

SecurityScorecard’s comprehensive platform goes beyond mobile forensics to prevent incidents before they happen. Ready to move from reactive forensics to proactive security? Request a demo or contact our Digital Forensics team for immediate assistance.