Forensics and PDAs

Information Outlook, Oct, 2004

Digital handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), are becoming more affordable and common-place in the workplace. They provide highly mobile data storage in addition to computational and networking capabilities for managing appointments and contact information, reviewing documents, communicating via electronic mail, and performing other tasks.

Users can store and process personal and sensitive information independently of a desktop or notebook computer, and optionally synchronize the results at some later time.

As digital technology evolves, the capabilities of these devices also continues to improve rapidly, taking advantage of new forms of removable media, faster processors that consume less power, touch screens with higher pixel resolution, and other components designed specifically for mobile devices.

When handheld devices are involved in a crime or other incident, forensic examiners require tools that allow the proper retrieval and speedy examination of information present on the device.

A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology gives an overview of current forensic software designed for acquisition, analysis, and reporting of data discovered on PDAs, and an understanding of their capabilities and limitations.

For details, see: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistir/nistir-7100-PDAForensics.pdf