June 26, 2006
Mobile phone forensics 'hole' reported
Police investigations are being hindered by the use of proprietary mobile phone technologies, say forensics experts, reports ZDNet
"Law enforcement is at the mercy of mobile phone manufacturers, according to University of Cambridgeresearchers.
Unlike PCs, where "deleted" data can still easily be accessed, information wiped from a mobile phone's internal memory can be almost impossible for the police to recover, according to Tyler Moore, a researcher at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. This can hinder police investigations due to a lack of evidence.
"Standard forensics tools don't address the less popular types of phone," warned Moore, speaking at the Workshop on the Economics of Information Security in Cambridge on Monday. "Sixteen percent of phones are not accessible beyond the memory on the SIM card. This is a consequence of using proprietary as opposed to open standards," Moore told ZDNet UK.
... Interface commands of proprietary phone technologies also vary widely, which means it isn't economically viable to make forensics tools for less popular types of phone.
Related:
-- Fighting Crime With Cellphones' Clues Extracting clues and leads from mobile electronics is no cakewalk.
-- Cellphone Forensics at Crime Scenes - Logicube has developed a portable kit which can extract data from over 160 handset when needed by the police and forensic staff.
--Digital evidence is increasingly crucial to criminal investigations - Cell phones have become the new "smoking gun" for prosecutors and police in the Twin Cities and around the world.
-- UK police making Gil Grissom jealous... - The Forensic Science Service (FSS) has developed a mobile laboratory which will travel to crime scenes and carry out real-time forensic investigation and analysis.
-- The field of Cell Phone Forensics - Modern detectives are now using cell phone forensics to capture more and more criminals.
-- Police turn forensic skills on handhelds - Handhelds are likelier to lead to handcuffs for techie criminals following the release of a report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
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