Upcoming CLE: A Look At Mobile Forensics with Gillware

In recent years, mobile phones and smart devices, including tablets and phablets (phone+tablets) have gotten smarter and smarter, and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. Many of us may use smart devices more than we use desktop or laptop PCs. Now, rather than being a secondary source of electronically stored information (ESI), mobile phones and smart devices have evolved into primary sources of data for all kinds of situations.

“ESI collection from cell phones is necessary in any case that involves electronic communications, data transfer, GPS locations, or any electronic actions.” – Nathan Little, Director of Product Development and ACEDS certified eDiscovery consultant for Gillware Digital Forensics and Gillware Electronic Discovery

Whether it’s a civil or criminal case, or a private investigation, it behooves you to consider the treasure trove of data you can find on these devices. The kind of ESI a skilled forensics expert or eDiscovery consultant can find on a mobile device could make or break your case. Fortunately, while collecting mobile ESI can seem daunting and complex, digital forensics and eDiscovery companies like Gillware are here to help you.

Gillware Digital Forensics and Gillware Electronic Discovery, a forensics and eDiscovery service provider, performs mobile phone and smart device forensic acquisitions and ESI collection from our lab in Madison, Wisconsin. Our president, Cynthia A. Murphy, M.Sc., has over 30 years of law enforcement experience and over 17 years of experience in digital forensics and oversees all of our investigations.

Our mobile discovery and mobile ESI collection experts have helped corporations investigating employee exits, documented and presented mobile ESI for use in civil cases such as employee data theft and contract dispute litigation, and assisted police departments in criminal investigations. You can find some of our most exciting casework on our digital forensics blog.

Our upcoming online CLE webinar will be packed with educational material on what kind of information mobile forensics experts can glean from smart phones, just how valuable this data can be, and the kind of work that goes into acquiring the data and ultimately using it to its full effect in your casework.

Here’s a little preview of the things you can expect to learn at our CLE webinar:

1. What kind of information you can find on a mobile phone

Mobile phones often contain text messages, voicemails, and contacts lists. A forensic investigator can even recover deleted messages from these devices. GPS data, as well as historical records on cell phone tower connections and Wi-Fi connections, can also be gleaned from these devices.

As modern mobile phones are functionally microcomputers, even more user-created data can be found on these devices, such as videos and photos. The data stored on a mobile phone’s internal memory and/or microSD card can shed a lot of light on their activities and whereabouts.

2. What kind of cases this information can be useful for

Mobile phone ESI collection and forensic analysis can play a crucial role in any kind of litigation. One example of an investigation in which ESI from a smart phone often plays a crucial role in is employee data theft.

Since so many avenues of communication, from texts and phone calls to emails, go through mobile phones, a smart phone can shed light on whether or not an ex-employee has been violating a non-compete agreement by handing proprietary company data to a competitor or using it to enrich themselves.

3. How forensics experts acquire data from mobile phones

Mobile forensics experts follow a strict process to ensure proper handling and identification of potential digital evidence, assessing the state of the storage device, acquiring and examining ESI found on the device, and clearly documenting and exhibiting their findings.

Forensics and ESI collection experts can extract data from a mobile phone using software tools such as Cellebrite, or by reading data straight from the phone’s physical memory chips and compiling them into usable data. In many cases even exceptionally damaged smart phones can be repaired and usable data can be acquired from them.

4. How to handle phones as digital evidence prior to sending them to a forensic lab

Mobile phones can hold a wealth of useful information for legal proceedings, but careless or improper handling prior to sending them off to a company with forensic ESI collection experts can result in important data becoming lost or damaged.

In our mobile forensics CLE, you’ll learn what kind of ESI can be pulled from even damaged mobile phones, how to avoid unintentional data spoliation, and how to take care of mobile evidence in order to get the best results possible from smart phones and other mobile devices.

We will be hosting our next live CLE webinar on Tuesday, August 8th at 11:00AM CST. Register for our one-hour mobile forensics CLE here.