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Learning Android Forensics
Learning Android Forensics

Learning Android Forensics: A hands-on guide to Android forensics, from setting up the forensic workstation to analyzing key forensic artifacts

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Learning Android Forensics

Chapter 2. Setting Up an Android Forensic Environment

It is crucial to have an established forensic environment set up before the start of any forensic examination. The forensic analyst needs to be in total control of the workstation at all times. This chapter will take you through everything that is necessary to have an established forensic set up to examine Android devices. In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Installation of necessary software on the workstation
  • Connecting and accessing an Android device from the workstation
  • Using ADB commands on the device
  • Rooting Android devices

The Android forensic setup

Setting up a sound and well-controlled forensic environment is crucial before the start of any investigation. Start with a fresh and forensically sterile computer. A forensically sterile computer is one that prevents the potential of cross contamination, does not introduce unwanted data, and is free from viruses and other malware. This is to ensure that the software present on the machine does not interfere with the current investigation. Install basic software, such as the following ones; they are necessary to connect to the device and perform analysis:

  • Android SDK
  • Mobile drivers
  • MS Office packages
  • Tools used for analysis

The Android SDK

It is important that we begin the discussion with the Android SDK. The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) helps developers build, test, and debug applications to run on Android. It includes software libraries, APIs, emulator, reference material, and many other tools. These tools not only help create Android applications but also provide documentation and utilities that help significantly in forensic analysis of Android devices. Having sound knowledge of the Android SDK can help you understand the particulars of a device. This, in turn, will help you during an investigation.

During forensic examination, the SDK helps us connect the device and access the data present on the device. The SDK is supported in most of environments, including Windows, Linux, and OS X. It can be downloaded for free from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html.

Installing the Android SDK

Google now offers Android Studio and SDK tools only as download options. Android studio contains the Android...

Connecting and accessing an Android device from the workstation

In order to extract information from an Android device, it first needs to be connected to the workstation. As mentioned earlier, care should be taken to make sure that the workstation is forensically sterile and used only for the purpose of investigation. A forensically sterile workstation is one that has a proper build and is free from viruses and other malware. When a device is connected to the computer, changes can be made to the device. Hence, it is crucial that the forensic examiner maintains control over the device at all times. In the world of mobile forensics, using write-protection mechanisms may not be of great help, as they prevent successful acquisition of the device. This is because during acquisition, certain commands need to be pushed to the device to extract the necessary data.

Identifying the device cable

An Android device can be connected to the workstation using the physical USB interface of the device. This...

Android Debug Bridge

In Android forensics, Android Debug Bridge (ADB) plays a very crucial role. It is present at <sdk_path>/platform-tools. In order to work with ADB, the USB-debugging option needs to be enabled. On a Samsung phone, you can access this by going to Settings | Developer options; as shown in the following screenshot:

Android Debug Bridge

The USB debugging option in Android

However, this may not be the case with all the devices, as different devices have different environments and configuration features. Sometimes, the examiner might have to use certain techniques to access the developer options on a few devices. These techniques are device specific and need to be researched and determined by the forensic analyst, based on the device type and model.

Note

On some devices, the Developer options menu is hidden and can be turned on by tapping on the Build Number field (navigate to Settings | About Device) seven times.

Once the USB debugging option is selected, the device will run the adb daemon ...

Rooting Android

"Rooting" is a word that is very often heard with respect to Android devices. As a forensic examiner, it is essential to understand this in detail. This will help you gain the knowledge that is required to understand the internals of the device. It will also help you gain expertise on several issues that are encountered during an investigation. Rooting Android phones has become a common phenomenon and rooted phones are very often encountered during investigations. Also, depending on the situation and data to be extracted, the examiner himself has to root the device in order to extract certain data. The following sections talk about rooting an Android device and other related concepts.

What is rooting?

To understand rooting, it is essential to understand how Unix-like systems work. The original Unix operating system on which Linux and other Unix-like systems are based was designed from the very beginning as a multiuser system. This is primarily because personal computers...

ADB on a rooted device

We have already seen how the ADB tool can be used to interact with the device and execute certain commands on the device. However, on a normal Android phone, certain locations, such as /data/data, cannot be accessed. For example, the following the command-line output appears when you try to access /data/data on a normal device:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe shell
shell@android:/ $ cd /data/data
cd /data/data
shell@android:/data/data $ ls
ls
opendir failed, Permission denied

This is because the private data of all the applications is stored in this folder. Thus, the security is enforced by Android. Only the root user has access to this location. Hence, on a rooted device, you will be able to see all the data under this location, as shown in the following commands:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe shell
shell@android:/ # ls /data/data
ls /data/data
android.googleSearch.googleSearchWidget
com.android...

Summary

Setting up a proper forensic environment is crucial prior to conducting investigation on an Android device. The Android SDK installation is necessary to use tools such as ADB that come along with it. Using ADB, an examiner can communicate with the device, view folders on the device, and pull data and copy data to the device. However, not all folders can be accessed on a normal phone in this manner. This is because the device's security enforcements prevent an examiner from viewing the locations that contain private data. Rooting a device solves this issue, as it provides unlimited access to all the data present on the device. Rooting a device with an unlocked boot loader is straightforward, while rooting a device with a locked boot loader involves exploiting some security bug.

With this knowledge about accessing the device, you will now learn how data is organized on an Android device and many other details in Chapter 3, Understanding Data Storage on Android Devices.

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Description

If you are a forensic analyst or an information security professional wanting to develop your knowledge of Android forensics, then this is the book for you. Some basic knowledge of the Android mobile platform is expected.

Who is this book for?

If you are a forensic analyst or an information security professional wanting to develop your knowledge of Android forensics, then this is the book for you. Some basic knowledge of the Android mobile platform is expected.

What you will learn

  • Understand the Android system architecture and its significance for Android forensics
  • Build a forensically sound workstation
  • Utilize ADB to acquire data
  • Bypass Android security such as PINs and passwords
  • Perform both logical and full physical extractions to retrieve data
  • Reverseengineer applications
  • Analyze data from many popular applications including Gmail, WhatsApp, and Snapchat
  • Discover free and open source tools to aid in data acquisition and analysis
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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Apr 30, 2015
Length: 322 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782174578
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ISBN-13 : 9781782174578
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Google
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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Introducing Android Forensics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Setting Up an Android Forensic Environment Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Understanding Data Storage on Android Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Extracting Data Logically from Android Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Extracting Data Physically from Android Devices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Recovering Deleted Data from an Android Device Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Forensic Analysis of Android Applications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Android Forensic Tools Overview Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.2
(6 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 16.7%
3 star 33.3%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
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Monisha Jun 24, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good book for beginners
Amazon Verified review Amazon
DC Dec 18, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The book provides a great primer for Android and takes into account that different companies will change it to fit their needs. I like that the author has broken it down to the nuts and bolts for what would be consistent in all Android OS and discusses open source resources to extract, analyze, review, and report (and understands there are commercially available products that do the same). What I appreciate is that it helps me understand what the commercial product is doing at some point in the extraction. Worth the read. I like physical books (I like to mark things).
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Carlos A. Aug 02, 2018
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excellent
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Imcom Jin Jun 14, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
It is a well organised and informative book in general and it is especially friendly for Android beginners. As the nature of Android is also Linux, I would recommend this book to people who also interested in Linux forensics. The book depicts core aspects of digital forensics and provides a clear picture of Android system. It reveals several concrete techniques and methods for doing forensic jobs on Android. In addition, this book also tells readers the relevant tools and other references which readers can go further with. I've also read <<Android Forensics>> when I was in graduate school. <<Android Forensics>> is more technical oriented so readers with less background may find that book hard to follow.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Adrijan Seferi Nov 06, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
This is very basic. If you are starting from 0 then this is a good choice.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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