Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Mobile operating systems overview
One of the major factors in the data acquisition and examination/analysis of a mobile phone
is the operating system. Starting from low-end mobile phones to smartphones, mobile oper-
ating systems have come a long way with a lot of features. Mobile operating systems direc-
tly affect how the examiner can access the mobile device. For example, Android OS gives
terminal-level access whereas iOS does not give such an option. A comprehensive under-
standing of the mobile platform helps the forensic examiner make sound forensic decisions
and conduct a conclusive investigation. While there is a large range of smart mobile
devices, four main operating systems dominate the market, namely, Google Android, Apple
iOS, RIM BlackBerry OS, and Windows Phone. More information can be found at
ht-
tp://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23946013
. This topic covers forensic ana-
lysis of these four mobile platforms. The following is a brief overview of leading mobile
operating systems.
Android
Android is a Linux-based operating system, and it's a Google open source platform for mo-
bile phones. Android is the world's most widely used smartphone operating system.
Sources show that Apple's iOS is a close second (
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/
has been developed by Google as an open and free option for hardware manufacturers and
phone carriers. This makes Android the software of choice for companies who require a
low-cost, customizable, lightweight operating system for their smart devices without devel-
oping a new OS from scratch. Android's open nature has further encouraged the developers
to build a large number of applications and upload them onto Android Market. Later, end
users can download the application from Android Market, which makes Android a power-
ful operating system. More details on Android are covered in
Chapter 7
,
Understanding
Android
.
iOS
iOS, formerly known as the iPhone operating system, is a mobile operating system deve-
loped and distributed solely by Apple Inc. iOS is evolving into a universal operating sys-
tem for all Apple mobile devices, such as iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone. iOS is derived
from OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix-like oper-
ating system. iOS manages the device hardware and provides the technologies required to
implement native applications. iOS also ships with various system applications, such as
Mail and Safari, which provide standard system services to the user. iOS native applica-
