Digital Triage Forensics: Write-Blocking, Verifiable Disk Imaging

When accessing a locked system during an in-field investigation, speed is often the most important factor. However, maintaining digital chain of custody is just as if not more important in order to produce court admissible evidence. We are introducing new features in Elcomsoft System Recovery, our forensic triage tool, to help establish and maintain digital chain of custody throughout the investigation.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/digital-triage-forensics-write-blocking-verifiable-disk-imaging/

#passwords #dfir #cybersecurity #datasecurity #passwordrecovery #digitalforensics

The Five Ways to Recover iPhone Deleted Data

iOS security model offers very are few possibilities to recover anything unless you have a backup, either local or one from the cloud. There are also tricks allowing to recover some bits and pieces even if you don’t. In this article we’ll talk about what you can and what you cannot recover in modern iOS devices.

Before we begin, I highly recommend reading our previous article aimed at demystifying bogus claims made by some unscrupulous vendors of data recovery tools: The iPhone Data Recovery Myth: What You Can and Cannot Recover. Below are the types of data you can actually recover.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/the-five-ways-to-recover-iphone-deleted-data/

#ios #icloud #iphone #backup #syncedfiles #deletedrecords

Apple Watch Forensics: More on Adapters

If you are doing Apple Watch forensics, I’ve got some bad news for you. The latest model of Apple Watch, the Series 7, does not have a hidden diagnostics port anymore, which was replaced with a wireless 60.5GHz module (and the corresponding dock, which is nowhere to be found). What does that mean for the mobile forensics, and does it make the extraction more difficult? Let’s shed some light on it.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/apple-watch-forensics-more-on-adapters/

#applewatch #ios #cloudsecurity #cloudforensics

iPhone Acquisition Methods Compared

Our mobile acquisition tools, Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit and Elcomsoft Phone Breaker, support a number of different extraction options. While many of our readers know the differences between logical and physical acquisition in general better than most, there are some things in our software making the logical/physical dilemma somewhat different. In this article, we laid out the differences between the extraction methods as implemented in our tools.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/iphone-acquisition-methods-compared/

#dfir #mobileforensics #checkm8

checkm8, checkra1n and USB hubs

If you ever used the checkra1n jailbreak or the checkm8 acquisition method available in some mobile forensic products like iOS Forensic Toolkit, you know that the trickiest parts of the process are the first two: entering DFU, and using the exploit itself. Even if you have the right cables and enough experience, sometimes you may still bump into a weird issue or two. The device may not enter DFU whatever you do, or the exploit fails. How can you increase your success rate?

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/checkm8-checkra1n-and-usb-hubs/

#checkm8 #checkra1n #mobileforensics

iOS Forensic Toolkit 8.0 beta 2 brings forensically-sound checkm8 extraction and iOS 15 support

The second beta of Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit 8.0 for Mac is released, bringing forensically sound checkm8 extraction to iOS 15 devices and delivering a host of under-the-hood improvements and enhancements.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/797.html

#checkm8 #ios15 #dfir #mobileforensics

Forensically Sound Extraction for iPhone 5s, 6, 6s and SE

Half a year ago, we started a closed beta-testing of a revolutionary new build of iOS Forensic Toolkit. Using the checkm8 exploit, the first beta delivered forensically sound file system extraction for a large number of Apple devices. Today, we are rolling out the new, significantly improved second beta of the tool that delivers repeatable, forensically sound extractions based on the checkm8 exploit.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/11/forensically-sound-extraction-for-iphone-5s-6-6s-and-se/

#ios15 #checkm8 #mobileforensics #dfi

Worthless Security Practices

Many security practices still widely accepted today are things of the past. Many of them made sense at the time of short passwords and unrestricted access to workplaces, while some were learned from TV shows with “Russian hackers” breaking Pentagon. In this article we’ll sort it out.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/12/worthless-security-practices/
#passwords #itsecurity

Elcomsoft Explorer for WhatsApp 2.80 improves compatibility and fixes bugs

Elcomsoft Explorer for WhatsApp 2.80 fixes the ability to download and decrypt WhatsApp backups created by the latest versions of the app and stored in the user’s Google Account. In addition, the new server-based authentication and crypt14 encrypted backups are now supported.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/798.html

#exwa #whatsapp #crypt14

WhatsApp Explorer: End-to-End Encrypted Backups and Compatibility Improvements

WhatsApp is the fastest growing instant messenger app. With over 2 billion monthly users, WhatsApp keeps the crown of the most popular instant messaging tool in the Western hemisphere. The recent introduction of end-to-end encrypted backups and the change of Google’s authentication protocol broke things temporarily for EXWA users, but now everything is back to normal. Learn how Elcomsoft Explorer for WhatsApp can download and decrypt encrypted WhatsApp communication histories from Google Drive and Apple iCloud!

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/12/whatsapp-explorer-end-to-end-encrypted-backups-and-compatibility-improvements/

#exwa #whatsapp #crypt14

Advanced Office Password Recovery: guaranteed recovery of legacy DOC/XLS documents

We updated Advanced Office Password Recovery (AOPR) with guaranteed recovery of encrypted .doc and .xls files saved by legacy and modern Microsoft Office tools in Office 97/2000 compatibility mode. For these documents, we target the 40-bit encryption key instead of the password.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/799.html

Microsoft Office 40-bit Encryption and Thunder Tables in Advanced Office Password Recovery

Before the end of this year, we are releasing one last update. Advanced Office Password Recovery can now break 40-bit encryption in Microsoft Office documents, and gains support for Thunder Tables. What are Thunder Tables exactly, and is 40-bit encryption still relevant? Read along to find out.

📖 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/12/microsoft-office-40-bit-encryption-and-thunder-tables-in-advanced-office-password-recovery/

#officefiles #microsoft #excel #word #password #aopr #thundertables

iOS Forensic Toolkit 8.0 beta 3: forensically sound checkm8 extraction of iPhone 7, iOS 15.2 support

The third beta of Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit 8.0 for Mac is released, bringing forensically sound checkm8 extraction to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices running iOS 10 through 13, with limited support for iOS 14 and 15. For older devices, iOS 15.2 support is added. Finally, we implemented keychain decryption for supported devices running iOS 15.x.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/800.html

#iphone #checkm8 #eift #mobileforensics #ios15

Checkm8 Based Extraction of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

Today, we are adding forensically sound low-level checkm8 extraction of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to previously supported range of iPhone devices.

What is “forensically sound” extraction and how our extraction process differs from competing implementations?

Our solution delivers true forensically sound extraction of the iPhone file system, incl. the keychain. Since all occurs entirely in the device’s RAM, we never boot (and don’t even need) the operating system installed on the device. The result is reliable, verifiable and repeatable extraction. If you use iOS Forensic Toolkit to image the iPhone file system and repeat the extractions, you are guaranteed to get exactly the same result; the checksums of the two images will match.

Learn more about supported phone models, DFU mode and the keychain in our blog:

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/12/checkm8-based-extraction-of-iphone-7-and-iphone-7-plus/

#mobileforensics #forensicallysound #dfir

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker 10.1: bugfix and maintenance release

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker 10.1 fixes bugs and improves compatibility, adding support for macOS 12 Monterey and the ability to extract Apple Maps data from end-to-end encrypted containers.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/801.html

#icloud #applemaps #monterey #cloudforensics #dfir #epb

Digital Evidence in Encrypted Backups

Backups are the primary way to preserve data. On smartphones, backups are handled automatically by the OS. Windows lacks a convincing backup app; numerous third-party tools are available, some of which feature strong encryption. Computer backups may contain valuable evidence that can be useful during an investigation – if you can do something about the password.

👉 https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/12/digital-evidence-in-encrypted-backups/

#backup #password #encrypted

Elcomsoft adds support for BestCrypt Volume Encryption 5

Elcomsoft updates its range of solutions for distributed, hardware-accelerated password recovery and data decryption, adding support for yet another popular full disk encryption product: BestCrypt Volume Encryption.

👉 https://www.elcomsoft.com/news/802.html

#bestcrypt #encryption #edpr #efdd #esr