Navigation ConceptWhen you’re talking cell phone forensics, a cell phone is a cell phone, right? Whoa! Nothing could be further from the truth.

The brand or manufacturer is one variable, but so is each model produced. So to say you have an iPhone is only touching the tip of the information that a cellphone expert needs to successfully complete a mobile phone forensic analysis. With the growing number of manufacturers and models, cell phone forensic tools must adapt and evolve as well. Sim card forensics from a year ago are not sim forensics needed in mobile forensic tools today to keep up with the new technology.

Of course, professionals on the cutting edge of cell phone investigation maintain not only a library of data mining software and data extraction software used in each step of the technology evolution, but also the newest and best software and tools for cell phone forensic use with every make and model available.

When began cell phone investigations back in 2007, there was a concentration on mobile phone hack detection and cell phone spying. Parties in troubled relationships or shaky business dealings were using the cell phone as a mobile spy or a cell phone tracking device. They wanted to know what was being said and where their victim was going. Mobile phone spyware detection was the primary purpose of services provided by private investigators like .

While those services continue to thrive, we are now called upon to conduct a cell phone investigation to find forensic cellular evidence:

That could be utilizing cell tower triangulation for cellular location evidence to prove the whereabouts of the phone owner at specific times or in a particular location.

That could be analyzing cellphone records connecting parties through communications by phone call, emails, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS) or Extended Message Service (EMS). Now with the enlarged capabilities of cell phones, communications extend to texts, videos, documents and any other bit of data that is stored on the mini-computers we carry with us daily.

Cell phone forensics and cell phone investigation changes daily and if you need up-to-date technology to uncover the truth, you need to rely on experienced experts. By knowing where the industry began and having grown with it, professionals at know what is needed to get to the truth that has been captured in those mobile devices.

-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations