Mobile forensic reference set (MFReS) and mobile forensic investigation for android devices

Abstract

This paper proposes the mobile forensic reference set (MFReS), a mobile forensic investigation procedure and a tool for mobile forensics that we developed. The MFReS consists of repositories, databases, and services that can easily retrieve data from a database, which can be used to effectively classify meaningful data related to crime, among numerous data types in mobile devices. Mobile data consist of system data, application data, and multimedia data according to characteristics and format. We have developed a mobile forensic process that can effectively analyze information from installed applications and user behavior through these data. In particular, our tool can be useful for investigators because it can analyze the log files of all applications (apps) and analyze behavior based on timeline, geodata, and other characteristics. Our research can contribute to the study of mobile forensic support systems and suggest the direction of mobile data analysis tool development.