What is happening with Digital Forensics UK

What is happening with Digital Forensics UK
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For those of you that did not know, which is probably most of the digital forensics community in the UK, as I didn't know, until today 26th February 2009, the Forensic Science Regulator is having a conference in Birmingham on the 31st March 2009 to be held at the International Convention Centre (ICC), Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EA. The aim of the conference is for the purpose "As part of the consultation process, the Regulator is to hold a conference for digital forensics practitioners as a group of experts to focus on the standards and to provide opportunities for detailed feedback."

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Disappointingly, the closing date to submit applications to attend was the 23rd February 2009. Regrettably, there is no notification at the Forensic Science Regulator's website and no notification to the established expert bodies in the UK about the conference. Instead, the matter was left to a small, but interesting, digital forensic forum that does not represent, and nor is it the voice of, the digital forensics community as a whole in the UK, to circulate the conference notice but sent to those forum's members only.

Forensic Science Regulator

Forensic Science Regulator

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I would urge all of you who examine mobile telephones and computers that if you want to do public sector work for evidence in civil and criminal proceedings in the UK and you are not on the Forensic Science Regulator's (FSR) list of approved suppliers then you may not get any work at all.

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Dr Chris Pamplin from the UK Register of Expert Witnesses has presented some open discussion on the FSR's report.

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One recommendation is the demise of the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP)

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Here is the weblink and go to the section on Understanding the Issues and read all the threads...very informative.

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www.jspubs.com/surveys/fsr0901/

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Exploding Cell Phone Battery

Exploding Cell Phone Battery

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A reminder for examiners to take care when examining mobile phones that require recharging the battery before examining the device. The horror story of a man's who had his neck artery burst by the exploding mobile phone in his breast pocket and died. Prior to putting it in his pocket the man had recharged the battery. Production line (bang it on, bang it out) mobile telephone examinations are potentially at high risk and a risk assessment procedure may need to be put in place to avoid loss of fingers or limbs or disfigurement. Insurance companies may need to be made aware of this potential high risk.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4452360/Exploding-mobile-phone-kills-man-in-China.html
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Last year Vinny Parmar produced a document (see link below) about counterfeit mobile telephones and it is by no means certain whether these devices are using batteries that may explode.
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http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2008/11/counterfeit-mobile-phones.html
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Moreover, some people are apt to placing their mobile telephone in more unusual places about their person. Whether the person is smuggling or something else the exploding battery provides a stark reminder that they may put their life at risk.
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http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2006/11/whats-this.html
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Thanks to Richard Putnam for sending to me the Telegraph newspaper online link.

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UPDATE: A further Telegraph online article has been written regarding the above exploding battery. Apparently, this second news article suggests it was a bullet from a home made gun that had cause the accident. However both Telegraph online articles are not referenced to each other so it is only an assumption that they both may be referring to the same incident.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4522915/Man-killed-by-exploding-phone-shot-himself.html

GSM mobile phone radio technologies power ahead

GSM mobile phone radio technologies power ahead

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As mobile and mobile telephone communications power ahead with continuing growth, and predictions for growth are commonly reported upto 2015, it is not surprising that, once again, positive *statistics for GSM (family of systems: GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA-HSPA) confirms the digital wireless future. *Market Research: GSA

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- 3.54 billion GSM subs; 89.5% global mobile market (Q4 08)

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- GSM gained 2.7% market share in the year to 31.12.08

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- 264 3G/WCDMA networks are commercially launched in 115 countries

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- 278 HSDPA operator commitments in 118 countries

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- 247 commercial HSDPA networks in 110 countries

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- Over 93.5% of commercial WCDMA networks have also launched HSPA

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- Over 69% of commercial HSDPA networks support peak downlink speeds of 3.6 Mbps or higher

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- Over 34% of commercial HSDPA networks support peak downlink speeds of 7.2 Mbps or higher

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- 79 operators committed to HSUPA

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- 66 HSUPA networks launched in 47 countries

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- At least 13 operators have committed to HSPA+

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- More than 20 operators have committed to LTE

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- 7 UMTS900 networks (WCDMA-HSPA) launched

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- 286.9 million WCDMA subscriptions (Q4 08)

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- HSPA subscriptions represent 31.5% of WCDMA subscriptions (Q3 08)

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- 1,276 HSPA devices launched (January 2009)

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- 192 HSUPA-capable devices launched

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- 231 HSPA devices support GPS (excl. notebooks)

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- 799 HSDPA devices support 3.6 Mbps (peak)(excl. notebooks)

Giving Evidence

Giving Evidence

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Experience suggests when giving evidence at Court, keep it simple. That doesn't mean you cannot speak technically nor that your comments, if you are being forced to state them in layman terms, cannot still be substantiated technically. Quite often though the Court is not up to speed with the technical vocabulary and the members of the Jury may not be as technology savvy to the same level as that of the examiner or expert. This video provides a good illustration that what you may say technically and what you think you have communicated technically is not necessarily what the listener may think you mean.
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Enjoy !
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Cellular Phones, Warrantless Searches

Cellular Phones, Warrantless Searches

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I have just read an interesting paper, published at the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) website on January 18, 2009, which has a very long title:

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Cellular Phones, Warrantless Searches, and the New Frontier of Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence.

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http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1329863#1209265

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Written by Matthew E. Orso of the Saint Louis University School of Law, the theme of his paper is written in context of the US Constitution Fourth Amendment and searches and, having read the paper, I took the view it raised the US question, do they understand what they are doing in the name of it? The Fourth Amendment, that is.

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To assist his proposition Matthew Orso opens with the volley, "As one court has observed, The recently minted standard of electronic communication via e-mails, text messages, and other means opens a new frontier in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that has been little explored. A quick glance at the edge of this new frontier might reveal the following: the FBI's Magic Lantern technology, a Trojan horse virus that remotely injects surveillance programs onto a suspect's computer and records every keystroke; x-ray devices that allow law enforcement to see through people's clothing; and police tracking the geographical location of a cell phone (and its owner) by obtaining the service provider's records without probable cause or a warrant. There are countless examples, but all hold at least one trait in common: Fourth Amendment questions abound while legal precedent often lacks, leading to tenuous conclusions."

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The clarity with which some arguments are presented raise other questions, too, such as, who is in control? The people democratically elect politicians to Govern for the purposes of running the country. That requires fulfilling the tenets in the doctrinces set out in the US Constitution. Power is lent and never given absolutely. Thus, once in office, to abrogate powers through devolvement to public servants because the minutiae of running the country is problematical and then not keeping an eye on the possible erosion of Constitutional principles leads, at best, to conclusions that are based upon the flimsiest of evidence and at worse decay at its foundation. Whatever it is that the US Government expects of their Superior Courts to maintain Constitutional principles, it might probably be based on whether those Courts see the flimsy or erosion at first instance? It could be said, Matthew Orso raises that old chestnut, he couldn't be saying it if it wasn't happening.

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Given the enormity of the technological landscape identified by Orso at the outset, his paper sensibly explores only a tiny thread of this "vast new frontier", as he calls it, by focussing in particular on "one intersection between technology and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that has ballooned in commonality yet remains untouched by the Supreme Court - the warrantless search of a cellular phone's contents."

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As my webblog is about thoughts and discussions on mobile telehone evidence and Forensic Focus discusses Mobile Forensics, I think Matthew Orso's paper makes an excellent contribution to this arena.

SIM PIN Challenge 2

SIM PIN Challenge 2

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A reminder that this challenge ends on the 15th February 2009:
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http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2009/01/sim-pin-challenge.html
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No pressure here guys, but we have had the first written response to the SIM PIN Challenge from a Challenge Entrant who has just started in mobile telephone forensics. This Challenge should therefore be a walk in the park for all you mobile phone and computer forensic examiners who have given evidence about SIM Cards in Court.
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As a brief history about SIM Cards, the requirement for *Personal Identity Number (PIN) to be available in a SIM Card is defined by way of the GSM Standard GSM11.11. Moreover, GSM11.11 v3 1995 standard and onwards can be downloaded free of charge. So at least we know there is over 13 years of technical knowledge about SIM Card PIN that is traceable. Furthermore, there are other standards that are used to test for allocation and activation of PIN and the mandated execution of the function between the mobile phone and SIM Card.
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*Do remember that PIN is only used because it is comon language now, but has been made obsolete from the standards and replaced by CHV (Card Holder Verification).
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Finally, many ten of thousands of SIM Cards have been examined and their evidence, along with examiners' testimonies/experts' opinions, have been presented in criminal proceedings at Court for well over a decade. A large number of the SIM Cards presented for examination had PIN enabled, thus understanding the fundamental operation of PIN is vital to forensic investigation understanding and the evidence presented about it.
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I have sent copies of this Challenge and MOBILE FORENSICS AND EVIDENCE DEGREES/CHALLENGE (see weblink at the end of this discussion) to the following who have the responsibility for: innovation, universities and skills; and regulation of forensic sciences:
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Rt Hon John Denham Secretary of State for the

Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)

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Mr Andrew Rennison UK Forensic Science Regulator

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MOBILE FORENSICS AND EVIDENCE DEGREES/CHALLENGE

http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2009/01/mobile-forensics-and-evidence-degrees.html

SIM PIN Challenge 2

SIM PIN Challenge 2

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A reminder that this challenge ends on the 15th February 2012:
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http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2009/01/sim-pin-challenge.html
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No pressure here guys, but we have had the first written response to the SIM PIN Challenge from a Challenge Entrant who has just started in mobile telephone forensics. This Challenge should therefore be a walk in the park for all you mobile phone and computer forensic examiners who have given evidence about SIM Cards in Court.
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As a brief history about SIM Cards, the requirement for *Personal Identity Number (PIN) to be available in a SIM Card is defined by way of the GSM Standard GSM11.11. Moreover, GSM11.11 v3 1995 standard and onwards can be downloaded free of charge. So at least we know there is over 13 years of technical knowledge about SIM Card PIN that is traceable. Furthermore, there are other standards that are used to test for allocation and activation of PIN and the mandated execution of the function between the mobile phone and SIM Card.
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*Do remember that PIN is only used because it is comon language now, but has been made obsolete from the standards and replaced by CHV (Card Holder Verification).
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Finally, many ten of thousands of SIM Cards have been examined and their evidence, along with examiners' testimonies/experts' opinions, have been presented in criminal proceedings at Court for well over a decade. A large number of the SIM Cards presented for examination had PIN enabled, thus understanding the fundamental operation of PIN is vital to forensic investigation understanding and the evidence presented about it.
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I have sent copies of this Challenge and MOBILE FORENSICS AND EVIDENCE DEGREES/CHALLENGE (see weblink at the end of this discussion) to the following who have the responsibility for: innovation, universities and skills; and regulation of forensic sciences:
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Rt Hon John Denham Secretary of State for the

Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)

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Mr Andrew Rennison UK Forensic Science Regulator

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MOBILE FORENSICS AND EVIDENCE DEGREES/CHALLENGE

http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2009/01/mobile-forensics-and-evidence-degrees.html

God is a Wireless Scientist Too !

God is a Wireless Scientist Too !

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Listening to the early universe just got harder according to a team, led by Alan Kogut, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. They discovered cosmic radio noise that booms six times louder than expected. The finding comes from a balloon-borne instrument named ARCADE, which stands for the Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission. In July 2006, the instrument launched from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, and flew to an altitude of 120,000 feet, where the atmosphere thins into the vacuum of space. ARCADE's mission was to search the sky for heat from the first generation of stars. Instead, it found a cosmic puzzle. The findings were announced on the 7th january 2009.

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"The universe really threw us a curve," Kogut says. "Instead of the faint signal we hoped to find, here was this booming noise six times louder than anyone had predicted." Detailed analysis ruled out an origin from primordial stars or from known radio sources, including gas in the outermost halo of our own galaxy. The source of this cosmic radio background remains a mystery."

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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2009/arcade_balloon.html

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It is these radio scientific break throughs, once we undersatnd them, that may introduce the radio communications of tomorrow.