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Q&A with Cellebrite about their Universal Forensic Extraction Device
The rise of the mobile phone means there is now a potential wealth of data available to the police from any potential suspect. However, the extraction of this data has the potential to cause problems. Here we speak to Cellebrite, a company who specialise in supplying devices for the extraction of data from mobile phones, to find out how they are helping forces across the world tackle this problem.
Cellebrite is a worldwide company that develops and produces solutions for law enforcement and security forces and mobile points of sale. One of the major products is a stand-alone device called a Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) that is able to extract data from mobile phones. This can be done both in its media form – images, videos, text messages and phone books – and in information format, as it’s stored as data in the phone. The company supplies this technology to police and security forces across the world, providing them with the ability to extract data from suspects’ mobile phones quickly and efficiently, often on the roadside – saving time and money. BAPCO Journal spoke with Co-CEO of Cellebrite, Yossi Carmil, and UK distributor Dave Kirk from Mobile Content Management Solutions, to find out more.
What’s the history of the product and the company?
Yossi Carmil: We were founded in 1999 and have been growing ever since, positioning ourselves as the leading company in the area of transfer and back up of mobile content. The company was recently bought by a Japanese public company called Sun Corporation. We supply our technology to consumer shops – the Universal Memory Exchanger – and, more relevantly, to law enforcement agencies with our Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED). This is used by law enforcement agencies across the world including US, UK, China, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Colombia and many more. The scope of worldwide customers means any phone can have its data extracted. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Colombian phone in China, the device can extract the data instantly.
Dave Kirk: The UFED allows the data to be stored instantly on a USB stick if necessary, or to a computer if linked, so that it can be quickly analyzed. In the past retrieving data from a phone often meant it had to be sent to a lab that could take months and added significant cost to police investigations. With the UFED the same data can be extracted in minutes – saving not only time, but money too.
How is the data extracted?
Dave Kirk: The data can be extracted in two ways. The first is called logical and this is the simple transfer of images, texts, phone book contacts and so on, direct to a USB stick or computer in the form as they appear on the phone. The second, and more technical, is the physical extraction. This is the actual data code within the phone – the string of 1s and 0s – that stores the data in the phone. This means even a phone that is damaged, broken, destroyed, etc – which is very often the case – can have its data extracted easily.
With so many mobile phone on the market, and more being launched every day, how does the device work with new models?
Yossi Carmil: This is one area that makes our product so advanced and popular with emergency services markets – almost every major mobile phone company in the world sends us their "coming soon" model months before these mobile phones are launched to the public. This allows us to configure the UFED to work with the new phones before they arrive on the market. This information is then sent direct to the UFED through an Internet link or it can be done via a CD. The UFED device can then upload this new information enabling it to work with any phone a criminal may have. Currently 1,700 unique phone types can be extracted through the UFED and more are being added all the time.
Dave Kirk: This ability to stay up-to-date with the market is a major plus for law enforcement agencies – such as the police forces in the UK. The cost savings of having a device that doesn’t date and is compatible with mobile phones that can originate from across the globe makes it a cost saving device as well as time saving.
Is it a simple machine to learn to use?
Dave Kirk: Very. It takes no more than a day for an officer to be trained to use the machine and we provide each user with an ID and password so they can use the system securely. The training is straightforward and so allows the user to operate more quickly and efficiently on the street, or on patrol in their vehicles, and saves the time and expense of having to send a phone to a lab for data extraction. Not only this but we also provide a ruggedized version of the device too so that is can be used in the field without fear of damage, or even by military personnel on the front line.
Yossi Carmil: The UFED is designed to be simple to use – you only have to push a few buttons to extract all the data you need. This is what makes it so popular – police and law enforcement agencies don’t want something that is complicated to use, they want something fast and straightforward.
Dave Kirk: We have several UK police customers and they all appreciate both the simplicity of the device to use, and the fact that it can be updated continuously to be able to work on new phones.
