Android Smart Phone Forensics using Open Source Tools

Abstract

Abstract: Mobile Smart Phone Technology (MSPT) is one of the greatest civilizations in history, but, unfortunately, the same is being taken advantage of and unseemly conduct is inevitable. Android Technology is fast evolving and dominating over its competitors because of its features, open-source architecture and ease of customization. In addition, Android Apps often use Self-Signed certificates unlike Apple Apps bound by Certificate Authority. To overcome the challenges of security in the newer versions of Android, the concept of a Virtual Android phone using a Genymotion Emulator is adopted. This approach will help in analyzing the latest phones through open-source tools without the need to physically procure them. The virtual phone interface is the same as the physical phone but it obviates the need to root/bypass the phone security, thereby allowing the researcher to concentrate on developing techniques for extracting forensic artifacts. Open source tools are used to carry out the research and a comparative analysis is done so that a combination of tools can be used to extract the maximum artifacts from the phone