Logical acquisition and analysis of data from android mobile devices

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himanshu Srivastava ◽  
Shashikala Tapaswi

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach that helps in acquisition of live data as well as data stored in the internal/external memory of android mobile device considering that the data on the device are not much altered during the extraction process. Also, the emphasis is laid on testing the validity of existing forensic tools against the data obtained manually and by using this approach. Smartphones have spurred the mobile computing technology, and Android is widely used as an Operating System in these devices. These days, users store most of their personal information like emails, images, contacts etc., on Phones/Tablets as their data would be readily accessible and thus convenient for them. Design/methodology/approach – Android Operating System is built on the Linux Kernel and scripts to extract data from Android Mobile Device with the use of Android Debugging Bridge have been written. The approach is more focused on the logical acquisition of data from devices rather than acquisition using physical methods. Findings – Live data of the Facebook application running on the device can be extracted. Also, the password of the LuksManager application (used to create an encrypted volume on the device), which is stored in the internal memory, is also extracted and identified. Research limitations/implications – The study has been conducted in an academic environment, thereby limiting external validity. Another limitation is the limited edition of some of the software forensics tools that are used. The full access to these software tools are restricted by Law enforcement and Investigation policies. The research provides a different approach which could aid in criminal investigation activities on mobile devices. Practical implications – The devices which have the latest versions of Android not only store messages and mails, but a lot of information about GPS, as well as information about popular applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. This could practically help a lot in criminal investigation. Originality/value – This study is important because very few works have been done on recent versions (Jellybean and Kitkat) of Android. The proposed approach could extract large amounts of information as compared to earlier approaches with the newer versions of Android having larger memory and new features.

Author(s):  
Guntur Maulana Zamroni ◽  
Imam Riadi

WhatsApp (WA) is one of the Instant Messaging (IM) applications used by many people. WA and mobile devices cannot be separated from the possibility of misuse such as for criminal purposes. To handle a crime case involving a mobile device, the investigator needs to use suitable forensic tools and mobile forensic methodology so that the results can be approved and accepted by the law. This research conducted a forensic analysis of WA on unrooted Samsung C9 Pro devices using Belkasoft Evidence, Oxygen Forensic, Magnet AXIOM, and WA Key/DB Extractor. This research gives suggestion about forensic tools for conducting forensic analysis related to WA.  From the research can be seen that there is no tool that can be used to obtain all the WA artifact parameters used in the research. The combination of the Magnet AXIOM and WA Key/DB Extractor is known to get the best results and meets the WA artifact parameters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinayak Agrawal ◽  
Shashikala Tapaswi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a forensic analysis of Google Allo messenger on an Android-based mobile phone. The focus was on the analysis of the data stored by this application in the internal memory of the mobile device, with minimal use of third-party applications. The findings were compared with the already existing works on this topic. Android is the most popular operating system for mobile devices, and these devices often contain a massive amount of personal information about the user such as photos and contact details. Analysis of these applications is required in case of a forensic investigation and makes the process easier for forensic analysts. Design/methodology/approach Logical acquisition of the data stored by these applications was performed. A locked Android device was used for this purpose. Some scripts are presented to help in data acquisition using Android Debug Bridge (ADB). Manual forensic analysis of the device image was performed to see whether the activities carried out on these applications are stored in the internal memory of the device. A comparative analysis of an existing mobile forensic tool was also performed to show the effectiveness of the methodology adopted. Findings Forensic artifacts were recovered from Allo application. Multimedia content such as images were also retrieved from the internal memory. Research limitations/implications As this study was conducted for forensic analysis, it assumed that the mobile device used already has USB debugging enabled on it, although this might not be the applicable in some of the cases. This work provides an optimal approach to acquiring artifacts with minimal use of third-party applications. Practical implications Most of the mobile devices contain messaging application such as Allo installed. A large amount of personal information can be obtained from the forensic analysis of these applications, which can be useful in any criminal investigation. Originality/value This is the first study which focuses on the Google Allo application. The proposed methodology was able to extract almost as much as the data obtained using earlier approaches, but with minimal third-party application usage.


Author(s):  
Venus W. Samawi

These days, peoples expected to move around carrying their mobile devices, talking to friends, completing their work, accessing emails etc. His/her pictures, work, study, even relationship (friends, and family) all is in the mobile device. Therefore, mobile devices (especially smart phones) become an ideal target for different attacks. Mobile computing also becomes important in enterprises and organizations. Therefore, it is important to illustrate the state of art on vulnerabilities and threats on mobile device. This chapter is addressed to explain mobile computing concept, features, architecture, operating systems, and risks to mobile devices. Mobile operating system structureand characteristicsare demonstrated. The author also illustrates mobile security issues, and type of threats to mobile devices. Finally, features and security models of two popular smartphone operating systems, Android and iOS, are illustrated. It was found that the security models of these two smartphones is immature and do not meet the enterprises security policies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won-Ik Park ◽  
Sanggil Kang ◽  
Young-Kuk Kim

With the development and diffusion of compact and portable mobile devices, users can use multimedia content such as music and movie on personal mobile devices, anytime and anywhere. However, even with the rapid development of mobile device technology, it is still not easy to search multimedia content or manage large volume of content in a mobile device with limited resources. To resolve these problems, an approach for recommending content on the server-side is one of the popular solutions. However, the recommendation in a server also leads to some problems like the scalability for a lot of users and the management of personal information. Therefore, this paper defines a personal content manager which acts between content providers (server) and mobile devices and proposes a method for recommending multimedia content in the personal content manager. For the recommendation based on user's personal characteristic and preference, this paper adopts and applies the DISC model which is verified in psychology field for classifying user's behavior pattern. The proposed recommendation method also includes an algorithm for reflecting dynamic environmental context. Through the implements and evaluation of a prototype system, this paper shows that the proposed method has acceptable performance for multimedia content recommendation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keum-Sung Hwang ◽  
Sung-Bae Cho

Mobile devices can now handle a great deal of information thanks to the convergence of diverse functionalities. Mobile environments have already shown great potential in terms of providing customized service to users because they can record meaningful and private information continually for long periods of time. The research for understanding, searching and summarizing the everyday-life of human has received increasing attention in recent years due to the digital convergence. In this paper, we propose a mobile life browser, which visualizes and searches human's mobile life based on the contents and context of lifelog data. The mobile life browser is for searching the personal information effectively collected on his/her mobile device and for supporting the concept-based searching method by using concept networks and Bayesian networks. In the experiments, we collected the real mobile log data from three users for a month and visualized the mobile lives of the users with the mobile life browser developed. Some tests on searching tasks confirmed that the result using the proposed concept-based searching method is promising.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khutsafalo Kadimo ◽  
Athulang Mutshewa ◽  
Masego B. Kebaetse

Purpose Seeking to leverage on benefits of personal mobile device use, medical schools and healthcare facilities are increasingly embracing the use of personal mobile devices for medical education and healthcare delivery through bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. However, empirical research findings that could guide the development of BYOD policies are scarce. Available research is dominated by studies that were guided by technocentric approaches, hence seemingly overlooking the complexities of the interactions of actors in mobile device technologies implementation. The purpose of this study was to use the actor–network theory to explore the potential role of a BYOD policy at the University of Botswana’s Faculty of Medicine. Design/methodology/approach Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and interviews, focus group discussions, observations and document analysis were used to collect data. Data were collected from 27 participants and analysed using grounded theory techniques. Emerging themes were continually compared and contrasted with incoming data to create broad themes and sub-themes and to establish relationships or patterns from the data. Findings The results suggest that the potential roles for BYOD policy include promoting appropriate mobile device use, promoting equitable access to mobile devices and content, and integrating mobile devices into medical education, healthcare delivery and other institutional processes. Research limitations/implications BYOD policy could be conceptualized and researched as a “script” that binds actors/actants into a “network” of constituents (with shared interests) such as medical schools and healthcare facilities, mobile devices, internet/WiFi, computers, software, computer systems, medical students, clinical teachers or doctors, nurses, information technology technicians, patients, curriculum, information sources or content, classrooms, computer labs and infections. Practical implications BYOD is a policy that seeks to represent the interests (presents as a solution to their problems) of the key stakeholders such as medical schools, healthcare facilities and mobile device users. BYOD is introduced in medical schools and healthcare facilities to promote equitable access to mobile devices and content, appropriate mobile device use and ensure distribution of liability between the mobile device users and the institution and address the implication of mobile device use in teaching and learning. Originality/value The BYOD policy is a comprehensive solution that transcends other institutional policies and regulations to fully integrate mobile devices in medical education and healthcare delivery.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Harris ◽  
Karen P. Patten

Purpose – This paper's purpose is to identify and accentuate the dilemma faced by small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who use mobile devices as part of their mobility business strategy. While large enterprises have the resources to implement emerging security recommendations for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, SMEs often lack the IT resources and capabilities needed. The SME mobile device business dilemma is to invest in more expensive maximum security technologies, invest in less expensive minimum security technologies with increased risk, or postpone the business mobility strategy in order to protect enterprise and customer data and information. This paper investigates mobile device security and the implications of security recommendations for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper reviews mobile device security research, identifies increased security risks, and recommends security practices for SMEs. Findings – This paper identifies emerging mobile device security risks and provides a set of minimum mobile device security recommendations practical for SMEs. However, SMEs would still have increased security risks versus large enterprises who can implement maximum mobile device security recommendations. SMEs are faced with a dilemma: embrace the mobility business strategy and adopt and invest in the necessary security technology, implement minimum precautions with increased risk, or give up their mobility business strategy. Practical implications – This paper develops a practical list of minimum mobile device security recommendations for SMEs. It also increases the awareness of potential security risks for SMEs from mobile devices. Originality/value – This paper expands previous research investigating SME adoption of computers, broadband internet-based services, and Wi-Fi by adding mobile devices. It describes the SME competitive advantages from adopting mobile devices for enterprise business mobility, while accentuating the increased business risks and implications for SMEs.


Author(s):  
Venus W. Samawi

These days, peoples expected to move around carrying their mobile devices, talking to friends, completing their work, accessing emails etc. His/her pictures, work, study, even relationship (friends, and family) all is in the mobile device. Therefore, mobile devices (especially smart phones) become an ideal target for different attacks. Mobile computing also becomes important in enterprises and organizations. Therefore, it is important to illustrate the state of art on vulnerabilities and threats on mobile device. This chapter is addressed to explain mobile computing concept, features, architecture, operating systems, and risks to mobile devices. Mobile operating system structureand characteristicsare demonstrated. The author also illustrates mobile security issues, and type of threats to mobile devices. Finally, features and security models of two popular smartphone operating systems, Android and iOS, are illustrated. It was found that the security models of these two smartphones is immature and do not meet the enterprises security policies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Morosan ◽  
Agnes DeFranco

Purpose – This paper aims to identify systematic ways of linking club members’ behavioral and demographic characteristics to their use of mobile devices in clubs. While the traditional private club experience is characterized by intensive personalization and face-to-face interactions, clubs are increasingly deploying information technology (IT) tools to optimize some of their internal processes and offer a better value proposition to their members. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data from 737 actual club members from the USA, this research used a series of logistic regressions to reveal the manner in which a series of behavioral and demographic variables can be used to predict the likelihood of use of mobile devices in clubs for specific club-related tasks. Findings – This research revealed that there are differences between the two main types of clubs (i.e. golf/country and city/athletic), as well as differences among club members residing in different regions of the USA in the manner in which members use mobile devices for club-related tasks. Research limitations/implications – This research offers a number of notable theoretical contributions. This research uses actual mobile device use data from actual club members in the USA. In addition, this research offers a comprehensive operationalization of the actual mobile use behaviors in clubs, and offers a methodological blueprint for predicting mobile device user behavior using easily collectable variables. Practical implications – This research provides specific suggestions to pinpoint the mobile technology deployment in clubs according to behavioral and demographic profile criteria. Social implications – This research could lead to feasible segmentation procedures and explicates the increasing role of mobile devices within the contemporary society. Originality/value – This research addresses a novel research topic in an industry characterized by a grave lack of research on IT.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad S. Najjar ◽  
Laila Dahabiyeh ◽  
Raed Salah Algharabat

PurposeMobile device users are frequently faced with a decision to allow access to their personal information that resides on their devices in order to install mobile applications (apps) and use their features. This paper examines the impact of satisfaction on the intention to allow access to personal information. The paper achieves this by acknowledging the affective and cognitive components of satisfaction derived from affect heuristic and privacy calculus theories, respectively.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data was collected from mobile device users who download and install mobile apps on their devices. Overall, 489 responses were collected and analyzed using LISREL 8.80.FindingsThe findings suggest that personal information disclosure decision is mainly a matter of being satisfied with the mobile app or not. We show that perceived benefits are more critical than perceived risks in determining satisfaction, and that perceived benefits influence intention to allow access to personal information indirectly through satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study offers a more nuanced analysis of the influence of satisfaction by examining the role of its two components: the cognitive (represented in perceived benefits and perceived risks) and the affective (represented in affect). We show that information disclosure decision is a complicated process that combines both rational and emotional elements.


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