An Analysis of the Digital Forensic Examination of Mobile Phones

Digital evidence is proving increasingly pivotal in criminal investigations whether it is an arrest for a minor offence or a more serious activity. As people rely on mobile phones and their many functions, the digital trail of evidence continues to grow. The forensic examination of mobile phones is a relatively new discipline and research activity into the forensic analysis of these types of phones, and the information they may contain, is limited when compared to the exponential increase in ownership of these types of phones. The amount of ubiquitous information stored on mobile phones will continue to grow as their processing power and storage capacity increases and the phones incorporate more functionality and applications. Guidelines, publications and research into the more traditional digital forensic examination of computer hard disks are well documented, whereas for mobile phones, the publications and research are not that established. The aim of this paper is to examine the current methods involved in the forensic examination of mobile phones and to identify those areas of mobile phone examination where the current United Kingdom ACPO guidelines and the United States of America NIST guidelines are unclear or insubstantial.