Four Tools, One Workflow: Using Elcomsoft Desktop Forensic Tools on the Same Case
July 10th, 2026 by Oleg Afonin
Most people meet these four tools one product page at a time, which makes them look like four separate purchases for four separate problems. On a real desktop case they are closer to four stages of a single job. Each one hands its output to the next: Elcomsoft System Recovery and Elcomsoft Quick Triage pull the raw material off the machine, Forensic Disk Decryptor turns keys into mounted volumes, and Distributed Password Recovery grinds through whatever is left. In this article we will not go through the feature lists (the product pages do that job well enough); instead we will look at when to reach for each tool, and why the order in which you use them is not fixed but decided by the situation in front of you.
Forensic Implications of Sleep, Hybrid Sleep, Hibernation, and Fast Startup in Windows 10
September 17th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
When analyzing connected computers, one may be tempted to pull the plug and bring the PC to the lab for in-depth research. This strategy carries risks that may overweigh the benefits. In this article we’ll discuss what exactly you may be losing when pulling the plug.
The iPhone Upgrade: How to Back Up and Restore iOS Devices Without Losing Data
August 27th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
In just a few weeks, the new iPhone range will be released. Millions of users all over the world will upgrade, migrating their data from old devices. While Apple has an ingenious backup system in place, it has quite a few things behind the scenes that can make the migration not go as smooth as planned. How do you do the migration properly not to lose anything?
Instant Messengers: Authentication Methods and Instant Password Extraction
August 24th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
iMessage, Hangouts, Skype, Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp are familiar, while PalTalk, Pigin, Psi Jabber client, Gadu-Gadu, Gajim, Trillian, BigAnt or Brosix are relatively little known. The tools from the first group are not only more popular but infinitely more secure compared to the tools from the second group. In this publication we’ll review the authentication methods used by the various instant messengers, and attempt to extract a password to the user’s account.
iOS 15 Forensic Implications: Temporary iCloud Backups
August 23rd, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
One of the main problems of iCloud forensics (unknown account passwords aside) is the sporadic nature of cloud backups. Experts often find out that a given user either does not have device backups in their iCloud account at all, or only has a very old backup. This happens primarily because of Apple’s policy of only granting 5GB of storage to the users of the free tier. While users can purchase additional storage for mere 99 cents a months, very few do so. iCloud Photos, downloads and other data quickly fill up the allotted storage space, leaving no space for a fresh cloud backup.
NAS Forensics: TrueNAS Encryption Overview
August 20th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
Established NAS manufacturers often offer some kind of encryption to their users. While anyone can use “military-grade AES-256 encryption”, the implementation details vary greatly. Synology, Asustor, and TerraMaster implement folder-based encryption, while QNAP, Thecus, and Asustor (MyAcrhive) employ full-disk encryption; the full comparison is available here. In this article, we’ll have a look at encryption methods used in TrueNAS, a system commonly used by computer enthusiasts for building custom NAS servers.
Apple Watch Forensics: The Adapters
August 18th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
How do you extract an Apple Watch? While several extraction methods are available, you need an adapter if you want to get the data directly from the device. There are several different options available on the market, some of them costing north of $200. We tested a large number of such adapters. How do they stand to the marketing claims? In this article, I will share my experience with these adapters.
iOS Privacy Protection Tools: Encrypted DNS, iOS 15 Private Relay, Proxy, VPN and TOR
July 28th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
Protecting one’s online privacy is becoming increasingly more important. With ISPs selling their customers’ usage data left and right, and various apps, mail and Web trackers contributing to the pool of “anonymized” data, de-anonimyzation becomes possible with big data analysis. This was clearly demonstrated with the recent event highlighted in Catholic priest quits after “anonymized” data revealed alleged use of Grindr.
Updated Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit Simplifies macOS Installs, Fixes Corrupted File System Extraction
July 15th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
While we are still working on the new version of Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit featuring forensically sound and nearly 100% compatible checkm8 extraction, an intermediate update is available with two minor yet important improvements. The update makes it easier to install the tool on macOS computers, and introduces a new agent extraction option.
How to Remove Restrictions from Adobe PDF Files
July 1st, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
Have you got an Adobe PDF file that you can open but cannot edit, print or copy selected text to the clipboard? There is an easy solution: with just a couple of clicks, the file can be unprotected. Bad news: you’ll need software. Good news: we’ve built one for you.
Elcomsoft System Recovery Simplifies Digital Field Triage and In-Field Investigations
June 17th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
Elcomsoft System Recovery is a perfect tool for digital field triage, enabling safer and more secure in-field investigations of live computers by booting from a dedicated USB media instead of using the installed OS. The recent update added a host of features to the already great tool, making it easier to examine the file system and extract passwords from the target computer.
