Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Open source or free methods
Several methods are available to acquire and analyze iOS devices for free. Most of these
tools have been built by practitioners in mobile forensics who recognize the need for af-
fordable solutions that work to obtain the same amount of data as commercial kits. Jon
Zdziarski has developed several scripts, tools, and methods to acquire data from iOS
devices. Some of his methods such as physical acquisition scripts are restricted to law en-
forcement. Zdziarksi released his instructions to acquire data from iOS devices and this can
There are other tools that exist so you can logically acquire and analyze iOS device images
and backup files. Some of these tools include iFunBox, iExplorer, iBackupBot, and more.
Make sure that you test these tools before relying on them for a forensic investigation.
Again, they are either free or request a donation for use. They are developed by the com-
munity for examiners to use. They often do not go through rigorous amounts of testing and
validation and may miss data that can be manually extracted by the examiner. It is the ex-
aminer's responsibility to learn the tool, test it, and know its flaws in order to recover all of
the available data.
