Digital Forensic Acquisition of mobile phones in the Era of Mandatory Security: Offensive Techniques, Security Vulnerabilities and Exploitation

Abstract

The increased use of consumer electronics like computers, mobile phones, smart watches, external hard drives, etc. has made digital forensics more important for law enforcement. Consumer products now contain more information about a person’s life than ever before, useful in any criminal investigation. Gaining access to forensically valuable data is often crucial for a successful law enforcement investigation. At the same time, the mandatory security and complexity of these devices have increased, making successful acquisition of forensically valuable data more difficult. Successful acquisition now requires law enforcement to understand the underlying technology and possibly bypass security schemes protecting the user data. This thesis contributes with knowledge in this setting, by looking at different security challenges law enforcement meet when trying to acquire data from digital devices, and especially mobile phones. This thesis aims at increasing the knowledge on how law enforcement can use security vulnerabilities in digital forensic acquisition of modern mobile phones, improve the effectiveness of such use and gain knowledge on new attack surfaces.