Phone & Computer Forensics

When Every Byte of Data Matters

The use of phones in crimes has been widely used for many years and in today’s technological information age, every byte of data matters.

Cell phone and other mobile device forensics is a variation of digital forensics involving the recovery of digital evidence from any mobile device. Mobile device can refer to mobile/smart phones, PDA’s, iPhones, GPS devices as well as tablets or iPads. These mobile devices are used to store or save personal information such as contacts, photos, calendars and notes, SMS and MMS messages. Whereas smartphones may contain additional data such as video, email information, web browsing history, location information, and social networking messages and contacts. Most of this information is intentionally stored but sometimes unintentional information is also kept which can add merit to a case.

Cell phone and mobile device forensic experts specialize in the forensic retrieval of data from these devices in a manner that preserves the evidence under forensically acceptable conditions, ensuring that it remains court-admissible. Full data retrieval is the ultimate goal but often specific detailed information that is retrieved is all that is necessary to prove a case. Since there is a wide variety of tools that exist to extract evidence from mobile devices; no one tool or method can acquire all the evidence from all devices. AFI’s forensic engineers will conduct a thorough examination of the data found on the cell phone's SIM/USIM, the cell phone body itself, and any memory cards.

Specific forensic evidence that is often retrieved and examined during a cell phone forensic investigation, often even after being deleted, includes:

• Videos
• Photos & graphics 
• Contact names & phone numbers 
• Text messages recovery of SMS message recovery 
• Call times; dialed and received calls, and call durations 
• Address book entries; residential addresses and email addresses

Attorneys, Courts, and Law Enforcement Officials realize the significance of evidence obtained from cell phones and other mobile devices, and how it can greatly affect the outcome of a trial. No matter the extent of the case, from White Collar Crime to the most extreme criminal trial, the integrity of the firm selected for a cell phone forensic audit is as important as the integrity of the data recovered.

With AFI, you can be assured with our many years of investigative experience, we understand that the collection and documentation of the extracted data from a mobile device to be used as evidence is an imperative matter. Today, more court cases are being won or settled quickly with the proper submittal of electronic evidence, so it's vital that the cell phone forensics investigator understands the legal issues and essentials surrounding electronic evidence gathering. AFI understands this fact, approaches all investigations with this in mind, and produces conclusive results for our Clients in the legal profession.

For decades, AFI has been a leader in the field of computer and crime scene forensic investigations. Our networks of forensic engineers are fully trained in proper evidence handling and litigation support services. AFI understands the importance of this evidence thus maintaining the highest industry standards.

Computer Forensics 

AFI is a Leading Digital Evidence Provider

Computer Forensics is a division of digital forensic science pertaining to legal evidence found in computers and digital storage media. The goal of computer forensics is to legally retrieve and examine digital media in a forensically approved manner with the aim of identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing, and documenting the facts about the digital information. Often this is data that has been accidentally lost or deleted.

Computer forensics, although most often associated with the investigation of a wide variety of computer crimes, may also be used in civil proceedings. The discipline involves similar techniques and principles to data recovery, but with additional guidelines and practices designed to create a legal audit trail. It has been used in a number of high-profile cases and is becoming widely accepted as reliable within U.S. court systems.

Computer Forensics requires knowledge of all aspects of the computer, from the operating system ISA to computer architecture and hardware design. AFI's computer forensics engineers will safely extract electronic data from almost any computer system, even if the data has been previously destroyed, deleted or hidden.

Data Recovery

Personal or Professional Data Loss:

Computers are machines that work miracles in our daily business operations. These machines often malfunction and potentially lose valuable data. Many email’s in our daily communications carry deadly viruses that infect our machines and spread, causing massive data losses throughout your business network. Computer hackers, which can be both inside and outside your company, can access your information, manipulate it, steal it, and cause huge losses of data which can lead to a loss of intellectual property and misuse of proprietary information by others.

The solution is AFI. Our hard drive data recovery and digital artifact retrieval services lead the industry.

We specialize in professional data recovery in a timely manner. Our teams of data recovery experts have the industry knowledge of how to retrieve personal or corporate lost data from damaged or corrupt storage media including hard-drives, back-up systems, temporary storage units and more.

AFI understands how critical your computer and data systems are to the function of your organization. Our data recovery specialists will retrieve your lost data and return you back to normal business operations in an expeditious manner.

When Every Byte of Data Matters

In today's digital age, cell phones and other mobile devices are used to store a vast amount of personal and sensitive information. This information can be used by criminals to commit identity theft, fraud, and other crimes. As a result, it is more important than ever to have a cell phone forensic expert on your side if you are ever the victim of a crime.

A cell phone forensic expert is a trained professional who can extract data from cell phones and other mobile devices. This data can be used to identify suspects, track down criminals, and build a case for prosecution. In some cases, cell phone forensic evidence can even be used to exonerate the innocent.

If you believe that your cell phone has been used in a crime, it is important to contact a cell phone forensic expert as soon as possible. The sooner the data is extracted, the better the chances of recovering it.

Here are some of the types of data that can be extracted from cell phones and other mobile devices:

• Call logs

• Text messages

• Emails

• Photos

• Videos

• Contact information

• Location data

• Browser history

• App data

• And more

Cell phone forensic experts use a variety of tools and techniques to extract data from mobile devices. These tools and techniques are constantly evolving, as criminals become more sophisticated in their methods of hiding evidence.

If you are ever the victim of a crime, it is important to remember that every byte of data matters. By working with a cell phone forensic expert, you can increase the chances of recovering the evidence you need to bring the criminals to justice.

Here are some additional tips for protecting your cell phone from being used in a crime:

• Use a strong password or PIN to lock your phone.

• Keep your phone's operating system and apps up to date.

• Be careful about what information you share on social media.

• Be aware of the risks of public Wi-Fi networks.

• Back up your phone's data regularly.