Android Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Google Android

by Andrew Hoog

Android Investigation, Analysis, and Mobile Security for Google Android provides the background, techniques and analysis tools you need to effectively investigate an Android phone. This book offers a thorough review of the Android platform, including the core hardware and software components, file systems and data structures, data security considerations, and forensic acquisition techniques and strategies for the subsequent analysis require d. this book is ideal for the classroom as it teaches readers not only how to forensically acquire Android devices but also how to apply actual forensic techniques to recover data. The book lays a heavy emphasis on open source tools and step-by-step examples and includes information about Android applications needed for forensic investigations. It is organized into seven chapters that cover the history of the Android platform and its internationalization; the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and the Android Market; a brief tutorial on Linux and Android forensics; and how to create an Ubuntu-based virtual machine (VM). The book also considers a wide array of Android-supported hardware and device types, the various Android releases, the Android software development kit (SDK), the Davlik VM, key components of Android security, and other fundamental concepts related to Android forensics, such as the Android debug bridge and the USB debugging setting. In addition, it analyzes how data are stored on an Android device and describes strategies and specific utilities that a forensic analyst or security engineer can use to examine an acquired Android device. Core Android developers and manufacturers, app developers, corporate security officers, and anyone with limited forensic experience will find this book extremely useful. It will also appeal to computer forensic and incident response professionals, including commercial/private sector contractors, consultants, and those in federal government.

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2007

Reviews

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Android Forensics which is a very good book which I read at http://safaribooksonline.com . This book is all about doing digital forensics on an android phone and it was released in 2011 so doesn't include Android 3.2. The most interesting part was the history of Android near the beginning and the information on doing digital forensics on an android is interesting but a lot of it is written out in steps that you probably want to go through it on an android phone whilst reading it to fully understand. I am sure if a reader was a digital forensics examiner with a bit of experience, I am sure they would fall in love with this book. Most of the exercises assume you are running linux on a computer with Ubuntu VMware & the Android SDK or software development kit. There is an overview of the various software you can use for digital forensics on this type of smartphone some of which are free and others are retail software. Some are only free to law enforcement agencies and digital forensic laboratories. There is one program called MobilEdit that will copy the data on an android with one click. Sometimes especially if the device is damaged or password protected they have to remove the chip and read it externally. They also have to put the phone in airplane mode, seal it in a special bag to prevent transmissions and temporily let the phone provider or ISP know to disable the smartphone. I really enjoyed reading this book and I must admit I find digital forensics quite interesting.