Phone Archives - All in Investigations

To Text or Not to Text

I have heard Client’s say they don’t answer calls from private numbers, they don’t answer calls from numbers unknown to them and they basically just do not answer their phone. When asked why they have their phone they reply, to text, tweet, post and check Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Google search, listen to music, podcasts, and whatever else they do with their phone besides actually making and receiving phone calls. Communication comes in many forms and for anyone younger than 40, audio (actually talking) is the least type of communication used. I think to myself, well then voicemail should soon be obsolete and maybe we don’t need our ears or our mouths, but then how can girls take photos of themselves with puckered lips? Now for [...]

Why Have Your Cell Phone Data Forensically Extracted?

There are many reasons an individual, attorney or a company would request an extraction from a device. An accusation of cheating on your spouse or even worse you suspect your spouse of being unfaithful can likely be addressed by analyzing cellular user data. More than likely there is sufficient evidence on of your cellular devices to either give credibility for or against the accusation. Now, what if the smoking gun was a GPS location saved in a temporary folder destined to soon be deleted? Or what if the text messages between a cheating spouse and their fling have been deleted? Our digital forensics software easily carves out deleted data and GPS location data from phones, but not all phones keep deleted user data the same [...]

Scam or Reality?

A man walked into my office and sat down at my desk to share his love story. He had met a wonderful woman online from another country. They had been communicating for over a year and he was contemplating traveling over 4,000 miles to meet her in person. He wasn’t a rich man, he didn’t own a house, apartment living was good enough for him and his cat, he didn’t drive a fancy car or wear expensive clothes, but yet, to her he offered more than she could ever obtain on her own. She wrote beautiful emails, quirky texts, and they had an account set up that allowed them to talk on the phone for pennies a minute and they talked every day at 6 [...]

Appropriate Legal Wording for Cell Records Requests Critical Time Saver

Can you image the amount of data collected by the phone companies? Not data on customers, but the data that is created by customers. They can store service records – but for only short periods – and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Because the service provider data is time sensitive, if an attorney or the authorities need the information for a case, a preservation letter has to be created and sent immediately to all the service providers involved. The preservation letter asks them to save data for a specific account and is urgent before the data is eliminated. The legal wording for cell records and preservation is specific to each service provider and if not complete and accurate, the request could be denied. The service [...]

Decrease Threats by Reducing Vulnerability to Cell Phone Spy

Let’s talk cell phone spyware detection. Remember this number: 95%. McAfee estimates that’s the percentage of malware ever devised that has been created in the past year. And, the amount of malware detected by them increased 44% last year, too. Those are dismal numbers that illustrate the growing threat to online security. Many of the major threats targeting large banks, online moguls like Facebook and Twitter recently have come from Europe and Asia but that doesn’t mean that the everyday user is exempt. The targets are cell phones and tablets. But the techniques for phishing are still the old school kind – because they work. The large corporations are hit because malware is accessed through links to compromised or malicious sites. Once that site is [...]

Security Starts with TSCM

got a call from a CEO who was concerned about an upcoming board meeting. The board would be discussing some very confidential matters including the terms of the sale of the company. If news of the sale was leaked, it could damage not only the negotiations, but the financial health of the company and the employees. He wanted to be certain that the conference room was completely secure. He asked that we complete Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM), or as it is often called, a bug sweep. He felt relatively confident that there were no eavesdropping devices or other surveillance equipment in the room, but he had to be absolutely certain. Usually listening devices are not evident to the casual observer. That’s why counter surveillance equipment [...]

Cell Phone Forensics Investigation Calls for Expertise and Experience

Cell phone investigation and cell phone forensics requires a growing body of knowledge – and experience is becoming more and more important. The main reason is the continual progress in technology advancements. One aspect is the evolution of cell phones and operating systems. As a cell phone consumer you may think there are only a few real differences between the different cell phones on the market, I mean you can get a computer that uses one of three major operating system vendors: MS Windows OS X from Apple Inc. Linux OS That does not hold true for cellular phones. There are more operating systems for cell phones than for desktop computers. The top five include: Android OS Apple iOS Blackberry OS Symbian Microsoft And even [...]

Is Your Employee’s Phone a Mobile Spy Leaking Your Business Secrets?

All you have to do is sit in a coffee shop or lunchtime dining spot to hear that sensitive business information is being discussed. It may not be about a top secret merger or a hot new product, but information about how a company does business and who their customers are is bantered about in casual discussions. And with the proliferation of ILLEGAL spyware available on the Internet, cell phone spying is becoming more and more a problem. Here at , our mobile phone forensics team is being asked to conduct cell phone spyware detection for more and more businesses. Cell phone monitoring is most often regarded as a way for someone in a relationship to keep tabs on their partner, or in a stalking [...]

Turn it Off and Stash it in a Drawer to Prevent Cell Phone Spying

My friend recently had a meeting with her attorney. I don’t know what they needed to discuss – we never talked about that. We did talk about the Cell Phone Policy her attorney had adopted and required everyone in the office – including clients – to adhere to. Because of the escalating incidence of cell phone surveillance and cell phone spying, the firm adopted the policy. Every cell phone that came into the office had to be turned off and left locked in a designated cabinet during all visits and consultations. No active cell phone moved past the receptionist’s desk. Here at we understand why the legal firm has taken the stand. We see the increase in mobile device forensics brought on by the ease [...]

Cell Phone Spying is Infiltrating Daily Life of the Average Citizen

Whether you like Anderson Cooper or not, he is part of the mainstream media and the topics he covers are often timely and informative. He had two women on his television program in the fall who revealed their husbands had spied on them through their cell phones. The incidence of cell phone spying has grown and infiltrated the daily lives of average citizens in situations like the women on Cooper’s television show. Cell phone eavesdropping is accomplished through the installation of software directly onto the device. That can happen simply through the opening of an email or an image – and, in the case of these ladies, getting an email or text from your husband would not send up any red flags. Cellular forensics or [...]