Why Local Law Enforcement Should Take Mobile Forensics Seriously

aodaodaodaod / Shutterstock.com

Police in Providence, Rhode Island, call Det. Teddy Michael when they need mobile forensics on a case, like the murder of a 12-year-old girl, where the suspected shooter handed over his cellphone to authorities.

The suspect thought he’d deleted every incriminating piece of evidence off the device but Michael, using Cellebrite’s Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) Physical Analyzer, recovered texts and Facebook messages.

Texts to a girlfriend revealed the man made up his story about his car being stolen.

“He said he’d been sleeping the whole night, but I found he’d been Facebook messaging a bunch of different girls,” Michael told Route Fifty in an interview. “I knew I had him.”

Since 2007, cases involving computer hard drive forensics have declined while mobile forensics have risen, increasing law enforcement demand for the ability to unlock, extract, decode and analyze digital evidence off smartphones and other mobile devices.

Israel-based data extraction company Cellebrite’s technology helps its law enforcement customers internationally with thousands of cases a year, particularly those tied to organized crime: drug trafficking, gang violence and Internet crimes against children.

“We’re starting to see bottlenecking of cases in police labs because of the time it takes for investigators to get access to mobile information,” Jeremy Nazarian, Cellebrite marketing vice president, said in an interview. “Law enforcement wants increased access to that information in the field, and the driver is that backlog.”

“There’s a major trend toward making that data intelligible and actionable to a broader range of users,” he said.

In a midsize city like Providence, Michael estimates he’s been called into the field 50 to 75 times a year and handles about 200 mobile phones.

Generally the process goes like this: Observe the phone where it’s been discovered or on the dead body, take it into possession, dust it for prints, clean it of blood if needed. Then take it apart and put it in safe mode.

A search warrant is needed for extraction if the owner is alive, but deceased individuals have no legal standing. The warrant can be obtained after the fact if the owner has died, Michael said.

Cellebrite’s UFED Logical Analyzer rifles through easily discoverable surface data and presents it in a reporting view for easier analysis and pattern finding, while the UFED Physical Analyzer extracts and decodes previously deleted information. Data can be GPS, calls, texts, emails, applications.

Between 50 and 60 percent of the time, mobile forensics provides a lead in a case, Michael said, and multiple times it’s been the smoking gun. Literally, a kid once posted pictures of the gun used in a murder to Facebook.

“You solve crimes, but you also catch people making up crimes,” Michaels said.

When a woman accused two Providence College basketball players of sexual assault, the data dump of her mobile phone told a different story, he said.

UFED tech is offered as software or on Cellebrite-supplied hardware, and the company also provides a Link Analysis tool that visualizes mobile data connections between multiple persons of interest—helping police narrow their search and develop leads in a case quickly.

Police personnel in Providence are pleased enough with Cellebrite’s results to keep renewing the city’s sole UFED certification, held by Michael, every two years since he got his in 2010. The city began using the software in 2008.

Cellebrite Certified Mobile Examiner training entails five days of instruction on logical versus physical operation from teachers who are all former members of law enforcement. An advanced class on smartphone forensics is also available, and knowledge of mobile forensics law is instilled to help investigators ensure the digital evidence collected stands up in court.

To that end, nonintrusive boot loader technology gains access to mobile phones without altering their content, and the closed system maintains the Providence mobile forensics lab’s chain of custody of data evidence.

“It’s really important to us that mobile devices be used properly, according to state and local laws,” Nazarian said. “The same discovery laws apply as with other types of evidence, and police agencies need to be cognizant of that.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.