Mobile handsets are being developed all the time and with software updates becoming a weekly occurrence, it’s become a tough task for forensic investigators to stay ahead of the ‘connected criminal’. So says Cellebrite, a mobile forensics product company.
It has recently announced its latest products; UFED 4PC and UFED TK to help investigators fight the technologically-savvy criminal.
In a case last year, in North Wales, forensic investigators were called in to seize the mobile phone belonging to a suspect paedophile that was thought to be abusing a seven year old girl. When investigators seized the phone, they were able to extract data, using Cellebrite’s UFED technology, including deleted text messages which the abuser had sent to a fellow paedophile in North Wales.
Detective Robert Beedham, from North Wales’ high tech crime unit, said: “I think the biggest challenge is keeping up with the latest handsets and ensuring that we’re always on top of them. We deal with a lot of child abuse cases and grooming cases, so UFED helped us with the physical extraction and recovery of texts, data and contact information.”
Cellebrite’s latest forensic products in the UFED Series, UFED 4PC and UFED TK, enable mobile data scrutiny on a single platform. UFED 4PC enables investigators to securely and accurately extract, decode and analyse mobile data on their existing laptop or PC. UFED TK enables all the same capabilities on a ruggedised Panasonic Toughbook CF19 or CF53 or Toughpad G1 tablet, for more streamlined work flow in tough conditions.
Yuval Ben-Moshe, senior forensics technical director at Cellebrite, said: “We recognise the need to continually update our solutions to combat criminals that are themselves constantly updating their mobile devices with the latest software and applications. The forensic software that we develop has to be one step ahead of the mobile phone software that is readily available to criminals. UFED 4PC and UFED TK offer forensic investigators two streamlined platforms on which they can operate on, with a full range of forensic applications to suit each individual case.”
Cellebrite adds that its UFED Series assists investigative bodies such as law enforcement officials, military and intelligence organisations, corporate security officers and e-discovery staff working on criminal or civil investigations.
