In
2020, the main challenge for cell phone forensics teams has continued to be
encryption. This year, the encryption bundled with Android devices as standard
has started to cause issues for computer forensics firms.
While
encryption has been around since Android 6, all mid-range Android devices and
Samsung smartphones prior to 2019 made use of Full Disk Encryption or FDE.
This form of encryption uses a less secure encryption scheme that protects
mobile data with “default_password” as the encryption seed key – nothing new
for your average purveyor of computer forensics in Dallas to crack.
As
of 2020, most new cell phones come with File-Based Encryption (or FBE of
short). This newer encryption scheme encrypts files with a key based on the
screen lock passcode of the user. While experts in
computer forensics in Texas can still prevail when it comes to decrypting
data from new smartphones, acquisitions will undoubtedly become significantly
more time-consuming and difficult as a result.
Why
Android forensics is causing headaches
For
those without mobile forensics expertise who need to access encrypted data,
Android is causing some serious problems. The smartphone market is saturated with
thousands of different low-budget Android models. These models are equipped
with all sorts of different chipsets from a variety of manufacturers.
Powerful
data acquisition methods, such as EDL extraction, can be used to access a
special “safe mode” which exists on most devices for engineering/diagnostic
purposes. However, these methods might not be suitable and will depend on
individual device settings which could actually enforce enhanced encryption,
should the device recognise that its data may be compromised.
Dedicated
forensic tools
Ultimately,
in 2020 a computer forensics team in Texas will need an arsenal of dedicated
forensic tools to access encrypted data. In addition to this, they may employ
techniques such as cloud extraction to acquire data.
If
you’re in Dallas and have been locked out of a cell phone, or need to access
encrypted data for legal purposes, chances are you’ll need access to computer
forensics in Texas to achieve the desired result. In 2020, technology has
become incredibly complex, and it pays to let the experts do the work for you.
Blog Resource: https://www.icfeci.com/challenges-in-mobile-forensics-how-manufacturer-security-is-getting-tighter/
