Book Image

Learning Android Forensics - Second Edition

By : Oleg Skulkin, Donnie Tindall, Rohit Tamma
Book Image

Learning Android Forensics - Second Edition

By: Oleg Skulkin, Donnie Tindall, Rohit Tamma

Overview of this book

Many forensic examiners rely on commercial, push-button tools to retrieve and analyze data, even though there is no tool that does either of these jobs perfectly. Learning Android Forensics will introduce you to the most up-to-date Android platform and its architecture, and provide a high-level overview of what Android forensics entails. You will understand how data is stored on Android devices and how to set up a digital forensic examination environment. As you make your way through the chapters, you will work through various physical and logical techniques to extract data from devices in order to obtain forensic evidence. You will also learn how to recover deleted data and forensically analyze application data with the help of various open source and commercial tools. In the concluding chapters, you will explore malware analysis so that you’ll be able to investigate cybersecurity incidents involving Android malware. By the end of this book, you will have a complete understanding of the Android forensic process, you will have explored open source and commercial forensic tools, and will have basic skills of Android malware identification and analysis.

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Table of Contents (12 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Free Chapter
1
Introducing Android Forensics
Introducing Android Forensics
Mobile forensics
The mobile forensics approach
Challenges in mobile forensics
Android architecture
Android security
Android hardware components
Android boot process
Summary
2
Setting up the Android Forensic Environment
Setting up the Android Forensic Environment
Android forensic setup
Android Debug Bridge
Rooting Android
Summary
3
Understanding Data Storage on Android Devices
Understanding Data Storage on Android Devices
Android partition layout
Android file hierarchy
Application data storage on the device
Android filesystem overview
Summary
4
Extracting Data Logically from Android Devices
Extracting Data Logically from Android Devices
Logical extraction overview
Manual ADB data extraction
ADB backup extractions
ADB dumpsys
Bypassing Android lock screens
Android SIM card extractions
Summary
5
Extracting Data Physically from Android Devices
Extracting Data Physically from Android Devices
Physical extraction overview
Extracting data physically with dd
Extracting data physically with nanddump
Extracting data physically with Magnet ACQUIRE
Analyzing a full physical image
Imaging and analyzing Android RAM
Acquiring Android SD cards
Advanced forensic methods
Summary
6
Recovering Deleted Data from an Android Device
Recovering Deleted Data from an Android Device
Data recovery overview
Recovering deleted data from SD cards
Recovering deleted records from SQLite databases
Recovering deleted data from internal memory
Recovering deleted data using file carving
Summary
7
Forensic Analysis of Android Applications
Forensic Analysis of Android Applications
Application analysis overview
Why do app analysis?
Layout of this chapter
Summary
8
Android Forensic Tools Overview
Android Forensic Tools Overview
Autopsy
Belkasoft Evidence Center
Magnet AXIOM
Summary
9
Identifying Android Malware
Identifying Android Malware
An introduction to Android malware
Android malware overview
Android malware identification
Summary
10
Android Malware Analysis
Android Malware Analysis
Dynamic analysis of malicious Android applications
Static analysis of malicious Android applications
Summary
Further reading
11
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
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ADB backup extractions

Google implemented ADB backup functionality beginning in Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. This allows users (and forensic examiners) to back up application data to a local computer over ADB. This process does not require root and is therefore highly useful for forensic purposes. However, it does not acquire every application installed on the device. When a developer makes a new app, it is set to allow backups by default, but this can be changed by the developer. In practice, it seems the vast majority of developers leave the default setting, which means that backups do capture most third-party applications. Unfortunately, most Google applications disable backups; full application data from apps such as Gmail and Google Maps won't be included. The same can be said about most messengers—its data isn't available in ADB backups.

This method...

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