Digital Forensics of Mobile Phones

Description

Mobile phone digital forensics represents a method of recovering deleted data. It often happens that data from a mobile phone is accidentally or intentionally deleted. This can occur due to resetting the phone to factory settings, physical or software damage to the phone, installation of apps or programs that carry malicious malware and viruses, mistakes made when choosing data for deletion, and so on.

In an age where mobile phones represent mini-computers where users store many important and useful data and information, their loss can pose a significant burden and stress for the owner. So, it’s not just about the phone book anymore, but also a multitude of video, audio, and memo files that are of great importance to them. Family photos and videos, business notes, emails, useful applications, messages… all of this can be irretrievably lost if the process of digital forensic analysis is not performed.

In doing so, it should be taken into account that digital mobile forensics should only be performed in an authorized service, otherwise, valuable data may be lost, and even irreversible damage to the phone may occur. Also, unverified “data recovery” programs that can be downloaded from the Internet for free are very risky.

Digital forensic analysis can also be used as a spying tool for the purpose of monitoring children, employees, a spouse, or emotional partners, as well as in many other secret operations.

What does the process of digital forensic analysis of a mobile phone look like?

Mobile digital forensics is performed using a special device and software. It is very expensive and sophisticated equipment, which requires special training for the use and management of this device. However, not all forensic analysis devices have the same capacity and capabilities, nor is the staff that performs the forensics skilled enough to save the maximum amount of deleted data.

If digital forensic analysis is performed with unverified services by unskilled individuals, various unwanted situations can occur. It is also common for a forensic scientist in some cases to be able to save a minimum of data that are not of greater importance to the user, but he is still required to pay the full price for the forensic service.

Therefore, hire trained experts in mobile forensics. It is best to opt for a service that performs forensics using a device from the Israeli company Cellebrite. This is top-notch forensic equipment used by the largest detective agencies in the world, such as the FBI.

Mobile phone forensics is usually performed in the service premises and less frequently on site. The phone from which data recovery needs to be performed is connected to the forensic device and after a certain period of time, it reads and restores the deleted data.

The amount of saved data depends on the phone itself, its memory, the way the phone records data, the length of time the phone has been used, whether some form of factory reset has been performed previously and whether attempts were made to extract data with other programs, software, or applications.

Mobile Phones in Our Lives

Can you imagine your life without a mobile phone? It’s difficult.

That would be the answer for nearly 5 billion people in the world who own a mobile phone. Almost half of them own so-called smartphones.

One study shows that 7 out of 10 people cannot bear to be without a mobile phone. On average, we use a mobile phone for 3 hours a day. You surely know, or you yourself are part of the group of people who spend much more time on their phones. About 60% of people have said they feel more secure when they have their phone in their hands, and most check their phone for updates first thing in the morning when they wake up.

The smartphone makes our daily life and work easier and more enjoyable every day. It allows us almost unimaginable free communication with people on the other end of the world. Mobile phones are our source of information, a window into the online world, a tool for meeting and socializing, entertainment, and communication.

Whole offices, business information, and contacts are found on smartphones. Mobile phones allow us to carry our work with us and get a significant part of it done from anywhere, even from another country. Most of us have banking apps, important codes, passwords, and significant business data on our phones.

One of the advantages of smartphones is that they provide the ability to find the necessary information at any time. If we’re looking for a hotel, or restaurant, or want to buy something, it’s enough to search for it on Google and get the results immediately. At the same time, we have access to maps that will show us the exact way to the desired location.

Smartphone galleries hold memories of first teeth, birthdays, and unforgettable moments from trips and celebrations.

Just by taking a quick look at the information on someone’s phone, we can learn a lot about the user, from personal data to lifestyle, behavior, age, and emotional status…

However, the truth is that phones break down.

What to Do When Your Mobile Phone Breaks Down

You’ve probably noticed that as the performance and technical capabilities improve, phone models become thinner and more prone to damage. The era of indestructible Nokia and Motorola phones is several decades behind us, so the latest phones mostly have a short lifespan.

As is well known, we are increasingly inseparable from our mobile phones. We carry them in our hands, and pockets, and leave them in inappropriate places. Therefore, it often happens that our phone drops falls into water, or breaks on a hard surface.

Phones and certain applications need to be updated to newer versions. Of course, this requires a certain level of knowledge. One wrong click and you can lose all the data from your phone. Apart from physical damage, an amateur update of the software or one of the applications is the leading cause of losing important data and information in the phone. Children are often the main culprits for accidentally deleting data from a mobile phone.

Installing new versions or applications always carries the risk of malware and viruses whose goal is to collect personal data and incidentally destroy a part or the entire software. Then most, and often all, content from the phone’s memory goes irretrievably.

It’s happened to you that your phone breaks down, certainly. Contacts, messages, picture galleries and video clips, important information, and passwords remain forever trapped in it. At least you thought so at first.

The most common reactions are helplessness, anger, and panic. But you probably didn’t know then that there is a way to save data from a broken phone, and the service is called Mobile Phone Digital Forensics.

Data Recovery: Rescuing Data from a Broken Mobile Phone

Thanks to Mobile Phone Digital Forensics, it is possible to fully or partially recover intentionally or accidentally deleted data from a mobile phone. Data recovery is possible from all Android and iPhone phone models.

Data from a broken mobile phone can be retrieved even if you don’t know or have forgotten the security code on the phone. Mobile phone forensics restores all activities on the phone from the moment of its first power-on.

Saved data from a mobile phone is not returned to the device, but is extracted and copied to new memory. The retrieved data is handed over to the client in electronic form, i.e., burned onto a CD or flash memory as a PDF file. Recovered data can be stored directly on another mobile phone.

Our expert advice is to bring the broken phone that needs data recovery service as soon as possible because the chances of retrieving information and data are higher. It is recommended that the digital forensics process is carried out in professional service, although it can also be carried out in the field if specific job circumstances require it. In both cases, discretion is guaranteed.

If you are unable to visit our firm in Belgrade, contact us and you can send us your phone via any courier service. We perform data recovery from a mobile phone within a period of 24-48 hours, after which we send your device back to you.

What Does the Process of Recovering Lost Data from a Mobile Phone Look Like?

The mobile phone is connected to a Cellebrite device for digital forensics, the forensic expert sets all the necessary parameters, follows the procedure, and finally extracts the phone’s content. This is a simplified explanation.

Of course, the process of rescuing and recovering data from a broken phone is significantly more complex.

The first thing to do is a detailed identification of the mobile phone model from which the data is being recovered.

Information about the manufacturer, the serial number of the device, and the type of mobile phone is searched, a list of characteristics given by the manufacturer is sought, based on which the places where certain data can be found are located.

The next step is the identification and extraction of data from the mobile device. A locked screen can be unlocked with an appropriate PIN, password, pattern, or biometrics. The biggest problem in mobile phone forensics is data mobility, as they can be in another location, such as a Cloud environment, very popular among mobile users.

Once the data is located, collected, and copied, it is delivered to the client in the desired electronic form. Lately, the service of transferring data from a broken to a functional mobile phone has been in demand.

Digital Forensics: What Can Be Recovered From a Broken Phone?

Whether it’s possible to recover all information or just a portion of the data from a mobile phone depends on several factors – the type of device, the kind and extent of damage, whether it’s locked, whether it’s been reset to factory settings, etc.

The basic data that can be recovered from a damaged or broken mobile phone include:

• Received and sent SMS messages (with date and time)
• Received and sent MMS messages (with date and time)
• Call logs for incoming and outgoing calls (with date and time)
• Phonebook
• Photos, audio, and video files
• Conversations from social media applications (Viber, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram inbox, Skype)
• Mobile phone locations at certain times
• Records from calendars, notes, planners…

Mobile phone digital forensics also recovers both accidentally and intentionally deleted activities on the phone, regardless of whether it is locked with a password.

The question is often raised whether it’s possible to partially recover and retrieve data from the phone. For example, you might only want your Viber messages from a specific time period to be restored.

Mobile phone digital forensics works by retrieving all information and data saved in the phone’s memory, sorted chronologically according to date and time.

Recovering Data from Android and iPhone

The mobile phone data recovery program supports all popular operating systems such as iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Bada, Symbian, Meego, Mediatek, Chinese phones, and CDMA phones.

We have a wealth of experience, all the necessary tools, and modern technology for:

• Recovering and retrieving data from Android phones (Samsung, Huawei, Nokia, Motorola, Alcatel, Sony, Tesla, Xiaomi, Honor…)
• Recovering and retrieving data from all iOS models (iPhone)

How to Retrieve Deleted Messages from Viber and WhatsApp

Viber and WhatsApp are the most popular apps for free call and message exchange. They are used by a large number of smartphone owners, and a huge amount of text and visual content is exchanged daily.
Viber and WhatsApp chats are equally often used for private and business purposes. One of the advantages of these platforms is the great security and discretion of communication. Both apps are known for the fact that the content of the messages is available only to the participants in the conversation or message exchange, and it is not stored directly on the phone, but on iCloud and Google Drive.

Viber and WhatsApp chats also contain a large number of important and useful information, photos, and video materials. Often, we accidentally or intentionally delete messages from Viber and WhatsApp, and then wish to restore them. When the phone is damaged or broken, we also lose the chats on these applications.

Is it possible to recover deleted messages and photos from Viber and WhatsApp?

Thanks to Digital Mobile Phone Forensics, it is possible to save and recover accidentally and intentionally deleted Viber and WhatsApp messages.

By recovering accidentally or intentionally lost data (data recovery) from a mobile phone, all information and activity on the device from the moment of the first start-up are restored, and therefore messages and exchanged content on Viber and WhatsApp.

Can digital forensics recover deleted pictures and video footage from the phone?

Smartphones have recently become a practical and very successful replacement for cameras and camcorders. The latest models have extremely high-quality cameras, so photos and video footage taken by the phone are of the highest quality.

Important and interesting events, travel destinations, memories of socializing, and celebrations are easier to immortalize with a mobile phone. Besides, all these photos and video clips are always at our fingertips, to review, show to someone, or post on social networks.

Photographing and filming videos with a phone are often used for business purposes as well.

A survey shows that when people’s mobile phones break, they mourn the loss of the photos in the gallery the most, much more than the device itself.

Sometimes it happens that we accidentally or carelessly delete part or all of the phone’s gallery content. When a mobile phone gets damaged, broken, or stops working, does it mean that we have to say goodbye forever to cherished memories and photos that we kept in the device’s gallery?

Of course not, because with digital forensics of mobile phones, it is usually possible to save and retrieve all data from the phone from its first power-up.

This means that mostly all photos can be saved and retrieved from a broken phone, as well as all images exchanged in messages and chats on Viber, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook.

Saving and restoring accidentally or deliberately deleted videos from a broken phone is a real challenge for mobile phone forensics. It is much harder and uncertain what can be recovered, but not entirely impossible.

The number of rescued photos and videos depends on many factors, such as the model and type of phone, degree, and type of damage, whether a factory reset has been performed, how the gallery data was deleted, etc.

When it is impossible or unlikely to save data from a mobile phone

Data recovery and restoration service from a mobile phone is needed if you have accidentally or intentionally deleted data, when the phone can’t be repaired or if the phone has been reset to factory settings and some data has not been properly saved.

There are usually two reasons why people need to save and restore data from a mobile phone.

1. Software problems: intentionally or accidentally deleted data – photos, videos, contacts, messages, and unprofessional factory resetting of the phone
2. Mechanical damage to the phone: the phone broke due to impact, fall, contact with water

Data recovery from a broken mobile phone is a complex and complicated process, especially in the case of mechanical damage to the mobile phone due to wetting or a fall. The amount and type of data that can be saved and retrieved from a non-working phone depends on the phone model, type, and degree of damage, and whether it has been reset to factory settings.

There are situations when there is a small chance of retrieving lost data from a mobile phone. When the phone is unprofessionally reset to factory settings, the possibility of data recovery is minimized, and everything depends on the type and model of the device.

Also, if the phone is completely non-functional and it is impossible to start it, it is a big challenge to recover data from it. It is best to bring the phone from which you want to save data as soon as possible from the moment of damage, as time is an important factor for the successful recovery of content from the phone.

Retrieving data from an iPhone device that is locked with a security code is also a very demanding task, even for the latest mobile phone digital forensics devices. The success of data recovery and extraction from such a phone is very small.

Price of mobile phone digital forensics

The price of retrieving deleted data from mobile phones is influenced by several factors. The cost of saving and restoring data from a mobile phone depends on the device model, the amount of memory, and the current state of the phone, i.e. whether it is functioning or not.

After detailed phone diagnostics, it is possible to determine the exact price of the service for restoring accidentally or intentionally deleted data from the device.

Permanent Deletion of Data from a Mobile Phone

You’ve decided to replace your mobile phone. Regardless of what you’ve chosen to do with the old device, whether you’ll give it away, sell it, or keep it at home, our recommendation is to always permanently and thoroughly erase all data from it.

Most people believe that they can permanently and forever clean the phone of usage traces and data via the “Erase” option on the phone. As you’ve seen for yourself, with mobile phone forensics, it’s possible to retrieve all data from old and broken devices. The usual data erasure from a mobile phone deletes the content so that the operating system no longer registers the data, but they remain written and stored in the phone’s memory.

Why is it important to permanently destroy data from a mobile phone?

This is because we often store personal and very important information in a mobile phone, such as personal data, passwords, bank accounts and applications, business data, intimate chats, and photos… You surely don’t want that to fall into the wrong hands and be misused at some point when you least expect it.

Permanently erasing and destroying data (Data Wipe) from a mobile phone will protect your privacy and security and reliably prevent data theft.

After permanent data destruction, the phone can still be used normally. The secure deletion of information prevents any subsequent reading of data from the mobile phone.

Our agency offers services for permanent data deletion. In this way, all files, private data, system settings, and other information on Android and iOS devices are erased from your phone without the possibility of recovery or copying.

Data Transfer from One Mobile Phone to Another

You’ve bought a new phone and now you need to transfer some or all data from your old device to the new one. This can be a difficult and complicated process, especially if you’re not an expert in new technologies.

Transferring data from one phone to another is a big challenge if we’re talking about two different operating systems. For example, you need to transfer data from an Android to an iPhone. It’s easy to accidentally click something wrong and permanently lose important data or damage your new phone.

That’s why it’s best to leave the data transfer from the old to the new mobile phone to the experts.

A special device and software perform data transfers without any model or brand restrictions. The devices automatically recognize each other and establish an encrypted connection between the two phones. This way, you can be sure that your data will not leak onto the internet.

Data transfer from one phone to another includes:

• Complete transfer, full data migration from the old phone to the new one
• Data transfer is fast with an encrypted (secure) connection
• System backup so you can always restore your data

Why You Should Entrust Us with the Recovery and Restoration of Data from Your Mobile Phone

Our agency provides digital forensics services for mobile phones to all business users and private individuals.

We have all the necessary licenses and we professionally deal with mobile forensics, with the possibility of successful data recovery from all types of iOS and Android devices.

Also, with us, you can get services for permanent deletion and destruction, as well as data transfer from one mobile phone to another. It’s not easy to choose a person or agency to whom you will entrust your mobile phone and the private, personal, and business data contained therein.

We use the most advanced equipment for reading data from mobile devices, and in step with new technologies, we use and develop modern methods of data recovery from mobile phones.

Discretion is guaranteed to each of our clients.

We guarantee the protection of your privacy and confidentiality of your data and provide:

• Up-to-date and accurate data from the mobile device
• The inviolability of the material content of data during forensics
• Conditions for unhindered use of data and information in accordance with the basic purpose for which they are collected
• Protection of data and information
• Standards related to storage, transfer, processing, and disclosure
• Standards related to tools for mobile device forensics

We undertake to take all measures against:

• Unauthorized access
• Unauthorized alteration or deletion
• Unauthorized disclosure or divulgation
• Accidental loss or destruction

Access to data is exclusively authorized to the forensic experts employed in our agency.

Therefore, if you want to rescue and restore data from a damaged and malfunctioning mobile phone, contact us. Bring or send us your phone, and with the latest equipment for digital mobile forensics and the experience of forensic experts, we will recover all or part of the data from the device.