Legal Issues Related to Mobile Device Forensic Activities in General
Looting can also be done in the cloud. The Florida Bar Association has issued guidelines for lawyers advising clients on “cleaning” social media sites (such as Facebook) to remove information that could be used in litigation against them.48 However, such obstruction efforts do not constitute an ethical violation. unless the conduct also violates evidence-preserving obligations imposed under substantive law.49 Lawyers should: when determining where to look for digital evidence. As mentioned above, examining a digital device can reveal passwords and identifying information on web accounts and prompt a lawyer and investigator to view web accounts. These accounts can contain valuable information, but the digital files stored in them can be edited or deleted on any device, just like digital files. Whether they want to find or avoid incriminating evidence, lawyers should be aware of the ease with which digital files can be altered or destroyed and should consider an inquest in appropriate cases. What if you want to buy a MediaTek device where the user has gone beyond the default_password to enable file-based encryption? In this video, Keith Lockhart from Oxygen Forensic Training introduces a new Oxygen Forensic Detective feature available in version 15.0. For cell phones, RDCs typically also identify the local cell tower that served the call, which can tell you the subscriber`s location at the time of the call. RDCs generally require a legal process. NW3C PerpHound, a specialized tool that helps visualize the historical location of cells, is free for law enforcement agencies and can help them review and analyze CDR records. Data control is also much smoother on mobile devices. Many people like to post on social media, and geolocation is often part of the publishing process.
Once a Tweet, Facebook post, Snap, or other communication is sent from a phone, control is lost. Mobile devices often represent a trade-off between security and convenience. While a 16-digit PIN can be extremely secure, few users will be willing to enter one every time they want to check email or make a call. Biometric approaches may be more convenient, but they are not necessarily protected by law like passwords. For example, the Virginia Circuit Court ruled that access codes are protected, but fingerprints are not. In Riley v. In California, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a person can be forced to unlock a device. And the recent shooting in San Bernardino, California, has raised questions about the First Amendment regarding Apple`s willingness to unlock a phone.
Some of the most widely accepted commercial standard products (COTS) and open source applications available to the forensic community are discussed below. However, no recommendations are made or implied. The U.S. armed forces have found an abundance of Chinese-made cell phones in theater in the Middle East. The Indian government has banned Chinese-made mobile phones from entering the country; However, these low-cost phones have penetrated Pakistan and other developing markets. This is proving to be a serious security problem for US troops stationed in the Middle East. There is still a lot of research to be done in the area of these devices, as China is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the world for low-cost, unbranded mobile devices. The investigative world knows little about the design, brand, manufacturer, and behavior of these mobile devices. In 2015, there were more than 7 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, up from less than 1 billion in 2000, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The world is witnessing the migration of technology and users from desktops to mobile phones. The following figure of statista.com shows the actual and estimated growth of smartphones from 2009 to 2018.
Family relationships are another consideration. On mobile devices, family relationships may be less complete or less obvious. Some software can automatically delete or delete attachments, and some communications are not sorted into proper conversations. While this is an inevitable part of the process involving mobile devices, investigators need to know that the challenges exist. Simple surveys will rarely be enough for mobile devices. Reports should never be taken at face value. A complete list of installed apps is crucial. It`s not enough to rely on a single software app to report everything on a mobile device. Even if something doesn`t appear in a traditional report, it doesn`t mean the data isn`t on the device. Mobile device forensics is an ever-evolving field that is fraught with challenges and opportunities in analyzing a mobile device for forensic evidence in support of a criminal investigation.
The process can be more difficult than traditional computer forensics due to the fleeting nature of electronic evidence. Software applications for mobile forensic testing are often not 100% “forensics”. A well-trained and highly trained digital forensic investigator plays a critical role in the criminal investigation process by conducting forensic analysis of mobile devices belonging to suspects, witnesses, and victims, or analyzing network traffic in response to computer security incidents (Curran, K., Robinson, A., Peacocke, S., and Cassidy, S., 1-4). Cloud syncs, for example with Microsoft`s OneDrive and Apple`s iCloud, are almost a no-brainer. If the mobile device data also exists in the cloud, it may be possible to retrieve information, images, and other data points without the need to access a mobile device. The common phenomenon of law firms delegating responsibility for eDiscovery to young lawyers and lawyers delegating responsibility to forensic investigators raises the specter of ethical violations in the form of poor oversight. Rule 5.3 requires lawyers to be responsible for the conduct of non-lawyers (e.g., forensic investigators) and Rules 5.1 and 5.2 hold the supervision of counsel and the counsel they supervise accountable for compliance with the Code of Conduct. These duties are not delegitimizable and are another way for lawyers to violate the rules of professional conduct. The rise of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and other licensed mobile operators (MOLOs) has also raised legal issues. While someone can buy a phone from Apple, Apple can rent the bandwidth.