The seventh beta of iOS Forensic Toolkit 8.0 for Mac introduces passcode unlock and forensically sound checkm8 extraction of iPhone 4s, iPad 2 and 3. The new solution employs a Raspberry Pi Pico board to apply the exploit. Learn how to configure and use the Pico microcontroller for extracting an iPhone 4s!

The fifth beta of iOS Forensic Toolkit 8 for Mac introduces forensically sound, checkm8-based extraction of Apple Watch Series 3. How to connect the watch to the computer, what data is available and how to apply the exploit? Check out this comprehensive guide!

Last month, we released the tool and published the guide on forensically sound extraction of the iPhone 7 generation of devices. Today, we have added support for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X, making iOS Forensic Toolkit the first and only forensically sound iPhone extraction tool delivering repeatable and verifiable results for all 64-bit iPhone devices that can be exploited with checkm8. While the previous publication talks about the details on acquiring the iPhone 7, there are some things different when it comes to the last generation of checkm8-supported devices.

In order to use the checkm8-based acquisition, the device must be placed into DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode first, and this is the trickiest part of the process. There is no software way to enter DFU, so you have to do it manually. This article describes how to do it properly for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X that are now supported by Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit.

Last month we introduced forensically sound low-level extraction for a range of iPhone devices. Based on the renowned checkm8 exploit, our solution supported devices ranging from the iPhone 5s through 6s/6s Plus/SE. Today, we are extending the range of supported devices, adding checkm8 extraction of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

Installing the checkm8 exploit to perform forensically sound extractions with iOS Forensic Toolkit can be tricky, which is in part due to certain hardware peculiarities.  If you watch our blog, you might have already read the article on checkm8, checkra1n and USB hubs. We have some good news: we managed to fix some of the issues with or without the use of a USB hub.

If you ever used the checkra1n jailbreak or the checkm8 acquisition method available in some mobile forensic products like iOS Forensic Toolkit, you know that the trickiest parts of the process are the first two: entering DFU, and using the exploit itself. Even if you have the right cables and enough experience, sometimes you may still bump into a weird issue or two. The device may not enter DFU whatever you do, or the exploit fails. How can you increase your success rate?

Back in 2019, independent researcher axi0mX has developed a ground-breaking exploit. Targeting a vulnerability in the bootloader of several generations of iOS devices, checkm8 made it possible to obtain BootROM code execution and perform forensic analysis on a long list of devices running a wide range of iOS versions. In this article, we’ll talk about the forensic use of checkm8 with iOS Forensic Toolkit.

The previous publication talks about the basics of using the bootloader-level exploit for extracting iOS devices. In this article, we are posting a comprehensive step-by-step guide of using the new checkm8 capability of iOS Forensic Toolkit for performing forensically sound extractions of a range of Apple devices.

The release of the checkm8 exploit was a breakthrough for mobile forensics, finally granting investigators verifiable access to the file systems of various Apple devices. This accessibility established the current “gold standard” for extraction: using the bootloader exploit to access the file system and dump it into a simple tar archive. While convenient, a tar archive is merely a logical copy, not a physical one. It may fail to capture the device’s true state, missing certain low-level nuances. Truth be told, these nuances are rarely relevant to real investigations, but why settle for less when a better method is available? More importantly, this approach avoids the “teething problems” of traditional bootloader extraction – such as the mishandling of large sparse files – that continue to plague even the largest forensic vendors.