9-15-2010 National:
DETROIT -- Got an iPhone in your pocket? Then you might be storing even more personal information than you realize.
And some of it could be used against you if you're ever charged with a crime.
A burgeoning field of forensic study deals with iPhones specifically because of their popularity, the demographics of those who own them and what the phone's technology records during its use.
Law-enforcement experts said iPhone technology records a wealth of information that can be tapped more easily than BlackBerry and Droid devices to help police learn where you've been, what you were doing there and whether you've got something to hide.
"Very, very few people have any idea how to actually remove data from their phone," said Sam Brothers, a cell-phone forensic researcher with U.S. Customs and Border Protection who teaches law-enforcement agents how to retrieve information from iPhones in criminal cases.
"It may look like everything's gone," he said. "But for anybody who's got a clue, retrieving that information is easy."
Two years ago, as iPhone sales skyrocketed, former hacker Jonathan Zdziarski decided law-enforcement agencies might need help retrieving data from the devices.
So he set out to write a 15-page, how-to manual that turned into a 144-page book ("iPhone Forensics," O'Reilly Media). That, in turn, led to Zdziarski being tapped by law-enforcement agencies nationwide to teach them just how much information is stored in iPhones -- and how that data can be gathered for evidence in criminal cases.
"These devices are people's companions today," said Zdziarski, 34, who lives in Maine. "They're not mobile phones anymore. They organize people's lives. And if you're doing something criminal, something about it is probably going to go through that phone."
It's an area of forensic science that's just beginning to explode, law-enforcement and cell phone experts said. Zdziarski said the focus of forensics recovery has been on the iPhone over other smartphones in large part because of its popularity.
Although some high-stakes criminal cases have used cell phone towers to estimate a suspect or victim's whereabouts, few have laid out the information that iPhones have to offer. For example:
Every time an iPhone user closes out of the built-in mapping application, the phone snaps a screenshot and stores it. Savvy law-enforcement agents armed with search warrants could use those snapshots to see if a suspect is lying about whereabouts during a crime.
iPhone photos are embedded with GEO tags and identifying information, meaning that photos posted online might not only include GPS coordinates of where the picture was taken, but also the serial number of the phone that took it.
Even more information is stored by the applications themselves, including the user's browser history. That data is meant in part to direct custom-tailored advertisements to the user, but experts said that some of it could prove useful to police.
Clearing out user histories isn't enough to clean the device of that data, said John B. Minor, a communications expert and member of the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners who has written articles for law enforcement about iPhone evidence.
"With the iPhone, even if it's in the deleted bin, it may still be in the database," Minor said. "Much is contained deep within the phone."
Some of that usable data is in screenshots.
Just as users can take and store a picture of their iPhone's screen, the phone itself automatically shoots and stores hundreds of such images as people close out one application to use another.
"Those screen snapshots can contain images of e-mails or proof of activities that might be inculpatory, or exculpatory," Minor said.
Most iPhone users agree to let the device locate them so they can use fully the phone's mapping functions, as well as various global positioning system applications.
The free application Urbanspoon is primarily designed to help users locate restaurants. Yet the data stored there might not only help police pinpoint where a victim was shortly before dying, but it also might lead to the restaurant that served the victim's last meal.
"Most people enable the location services because they want the benefits of the applications," Minor said. "What they don't know is that it's recording your GPS coordinates."
Bill Cataldo, an assistant Macomb County, Mich., prosecutor who heads the office's homicide unit, said iPhones are treated more like small computers than mobile phones.
"People are keeping a tremendous amount of information on there," he said.
Cataldo said he has found phone call histories and text messages most useful in homicide cases. But Zdziarski, who has helped federal and state law-enforcement agencies gather evidence, said those elements are just scratching the surface when it comes to the information police and prosecutors soon will start pulling from iPhones.
"There are some terrorists out there who obtained some information about a network from an iPhone," he said.
Even people who don't take pictures or leave GPS coordinates behind often unwittingly leave other trails, Zdziarski said.
"Like the keyboard cache," he said. "The iPhone logs everything that you type in to learn autocorrect" so that it can correct a user's typing mistakes.
Apple doesn't store that cache very securely, Zdziarski contended, so someone with know-how could recover months of typing in the order in which it was typed, even if the e-mail or text it was part of has long since been deleted.
Apple did not return phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment. ..Source.. Amber Hunt
Showing posts with label Detection - Cell Phone Software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detection - Cell Phone Software. Show all posts
September 15, 2010
Police say IPhones can store a treasure trove of incriminating evidence
July 29, 2009
Sex Offender iPhone App Sells Big
7-29-2009 National:
To the list of items that can be easily located with an iPhone (pizza joints, coffee shops, nearby friends), here’s one addition that might surprise you: sex offenders.
Top-Selling iPhone App: Sex Offender Locator
Another company profiteering from former sex offenders, using a fear-mongering technique. Contrary to the marketing claim that it will "Locate Sex Offenders," this product WILL NOT DO THAT, but what it will do is tell you where FORMER sex offenders (registrants) sleep and possibly where they work or go to school. Where they are at other times is unknown.
The product WILL NOT locate sex offenders because sex offenders are not registered, they are out committing sex offenses. This product uses wordsmithing to con the public into buying its services. The marketing is good and it fools the public into a false sense of security, as does the latest laws passed by lawmakers.
Launched in June, the Offender Locator iPhone application lets users view registered sex offenders living in their area.
Launched by ThinAir Wireless, a GPS-tracking and wireless monitoring company, the Offender Locator iPhone application lets users view registered sex offenders living in their area.
The app comes in free and paid versions, but after nearly two months in the App store, the 99-cent application is among the ten best-selling paid apps. Amid the games and entertainment applications, Offender Locator has grabbed the sixth spot on the list.
The company says the app is one part of its suite of “Peace of Mind” products (other services include a GPS tracking system for teenagers and an alert system that sends subscribers real-time text messages from government agencies about weather and emergency situations). ..Source.. by The Weiss Report
February 12, 2009
CO- Software helps DA investigators nab Internet sex offenders
2-12-2009 Colorado:
JEFFERSON COUNTY - It's a program designed to protect children using the Internet from sexual predators.
An investigator with the Jefferson County District Attorney's office is the first law enforcement officer to use the My Mobile Watchdog program to make an arrest using the software, and he's already made more than one.
Wednesday, Investigator Mike Harris and his office got a $25,000 check from the CEO of the company behind My Mobile Watchdog, E-Agency Mobile Solutions, for the Child Sex Offender Internet Safety Program.
Since March 2008, Harris has used a special version of My Mobile Watchdog to make more than 50 percent of his arrests.
Harris says the money will go toward the educational program he plans to take to elementary schools.
"It's going to make my job that much easier because funding today, and trying to keep our funds going, is a struggle," Harris said.
The Jefferson County District Attorney's office is the only DA's office in the country with a unit designated to child sex offender Internet investigations.
..News Source.. by Jeffrey Wolf
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