The wide embrace of mobile devices has necessitated the development of analysis of mobile devices for forensic evidence useful to law enforcement. Presently, almost every person on the globe has a mobile device within an arm’s reach. Although mobile devices heavily refer to cellular phones, the term includes other devices such as portable digital assistants (PDA), tablet computers, and portable GPS devices. An analysis of the devices provides valuable data about the user and his contacts. Though useful, the forensic analysis presents several challenges especially if the data is to be used for legal purposes (Androulidakis, 2016) . This paper discusses the valuable information that can be obtained from the analysis of mobile devices, its use and the challenges that are likely to be encountered by law enforcement.
The analysis of mobile devices reveals information such as short messages services (SMS) texts, multimedia messages services (MMS), internet browsing history, emails, photos, call history, and geolocation that indicates who the user communicated to and the time stamp. Internet browsing history, on the other hand, is handy in revealing information about the user having a specific interest in specific information. The information is usually stored in the device browsers history logs. Similarly, are useful in the identification of the user's location at a given instance. Most smartphones have the capability of geotagging the photos taken by the phone camera. As such, analysis of the pictures reveals where the photo was taken. Additionally, the content of the picture can also explain who was in the company of the user. When the location and tagging feature is not available, eye witness accounts can be used to identify the location. Finally, call history logs and contacts are used to determine the communication patterns of the user, acquaintances and possible location (Androulidakis, 2016) .
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Despite the wide availability of useful information for forensic analysts, law enforcement has to overcome many hurdles when dealing with mobile devices. First, the mobile devices, form factor, operating systems and file formats keep changing making it hard to stick to a particular tool of forensic analysis (Nimje & Honwadkar, 2015) . Secondly, it is hard to precisely place the user accurately at a specific location in a densely populated area when relying on call history alone. Other challenges include the ease with which the information can be corrupt or even be made an inadmissible in the legal setting. Finally, with the advancement of technology, there is increasing use and development of antiforensic tools that are likely to be used to temper or conceal valuable information from mobile devices. Some of the known tools include remote wiping of the devices as discussed by Leom, Choo and Hunt, (2016) .
In conclusion, the use of mobile devices by law enforcement cannot be overemphasized. On average every person is within an arm’s reach of one of the mobile devices. It makes the devices reveal valuable information of the user to law enforcement. The information that can be retrieved from the device includes SMS, MMS, call logs, internet browsing history, emails and photos, GPS position and contacts. The information reveals; the location, communication history, content of messages passed around, and time stamps of events. Though useful, law enforcement has to overcome several hurdles such as the constant changes made by the manufactures of the devices, location information inaccuracy, and anti-forensic tools when dealing with mobile devices.
References
Androulidakis, I. I. (2016). Mobile Phone Security and Forensics: A Practical Approach . Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Leom, M., Choo, K., & Hunt, R. (2016). Remote Wiping and Secure Deletion on Mobile Devices: A Review. Journal Of Forensic Sciences , 61 (6), 1473-1492. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.13203
Nimje, H., & Honwadkar, D. (2015). Digital Forensic Investigation and Analysis of Android Mobile. International Journal Of Science And Research (IJSR) , 4 (12), 704-707. doi: 10.21275/v4i12.nov152071
