October 01 2014
For your case preparation, do you need to present the content of messages or a photograph from your client’s mobile phone but which is not available for examination due to being lost, stolen, sold or simply that your client does not want to be parted from it? Previously, unless the client had saved a backup to their computer, there was little that could be done to assist as the connection records, another potential examination opportunity, do not include the content of messages or a record of photographs captured.
Apple’s IOS (used on iPhones and iPad), Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Google’s Android platforms all allow the user to backup their phone’s or tablet’s data to their Cloud storage platforms (iCloud, OneDrive and GoogleDrive, respectively). Using specialist software, and your client’s account credentials, Keith Borer Consultants can remotely access this data and examine it without the requirement to physically have their handset in our office.
These cloud-based backup facilities can particularly be useful for cases with very short timescales as it obviates the need for the telephone to be sent to our offices, and the concomitant requirement for CPS permissions and liaising with the Police for those mobile telephones which have been seized. Keith Borer Consultants were recently instructed in an urgent case where time did not permit the mobile telephone to be sent to our offices ahead of the trial. The client provided his Apple iCloud account details and we were able to download three most recent backups to recover SMS messages, call information, contacts and images deemed critical to the case. The examination was undertaken and report completed within a couple of working days of receiving the client’s account credentials.
If you have a case which may benefit from the examination of your client's cloud-based backups please contact one of our mobile telephone examiners at Keith Borer Consultants.
