The iOS 27 Recovery Menu: What It Means for Forensics
August 5th, 2026 by Oleg Afonin
iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, currently in beta, add a bootable recovery menu to the iPhone and iPad. Hold the power button while the device starts up and you land in a small pre-boot environment with six options, one of which is the old “connect to computer” recovery mode. This is the same idea Apple silicon Macs have had for years, and it is overdue on the phone.
Guide: Forensically Sound Extraction of iPhone 5s, 6, 6s and SE with checkm8 Exploit
May 19th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
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 File System Dirty Bit
May 18th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
In older iPhones, the ‘file system dirty’ flag indicates unclean device shutdown, which affects the ability to perform bootloader-level extractions of Apple devices running legacy versions of iOS (prior to iOS 10.3 released in March 2017). As such, the “file system dirty” flag must be cleared before the extraction. In this article we discuss the very different forensic implications of this flag if it is set on the Data or System partitions.
A Tale of One iPhone Backup Password
May 17th, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
Have an iPhone backup but cannot get around the password protection? I have a story to share. I was recently contacted by an old partner from the other side of the world who asked for assistance in an urgent case. He had an iTunes-style backup of a device full of critical evidence, but the password locked him out of the data.
Our Guidelines For The World Password Day
May 6th, 2021 by Olga Koksharova
There was a 3-fold increase in identity theft and more than 2-fold increase in phishing attacks registered in 2020 compared to 2019 according to IC3 report. A whopping 50 – 81% of attacks (depending on who you read) are targeting both corporate and private sectors to steal users’ login credentials; that is, passwords. No matter what changes happen in data security, passwords remain the most wide-spread means of protection.
Breaking Wi-Fi Passwords with NVIDIA Ampere
April 12th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
The supply of NVIDIA’s latest and greatest RTX 3000 series boards remains scarce due to production shortages and increased demand from gamers and cryptocurrency miners. That didn’t stop us from giving these cards yet another purpose: breaking Wi-Fi passwords.
Breaking RAR5 and 7Zip Passwords
April 6th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
The recent update to Elcomsoft Advanced Archive Password Recovery, our go-to tool for breaking passwords to encrypted archives, brought compatibility with RAR5 and 7Zip formats, and enabled multithreaded dictionary attacks. Which archive formats are the most secure, and which ones are the toughest to break? Read along to find out!
Breaking the iPhone 12: Forensic Extraction of iOS 14 Devices
March 18th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
iOS Forensic Toolkit 7.0 brings low-level extraction support for the latest generation of Apple devices. This includes the entire range of iPhone 12 models as well as all other devices capable of running iOS 14.0 to 14.3. Learn how to image the latest iPhone models without a jailbreak.
iOS Recovery Mode Analysis: Reading iOS Version from Locked and Disabled iPhones
February 18th, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
The iPhone recovery mode has limited use for mobile forensics. However, even the limited amount of information available through recovery mode can be essential for an investigation. Recovery access can be also the only available analysis method if the device becomes unusable, is locked or disabled after ten unsuccessful unlocking attempts, or had entered the USB restricted mode. Learn how to enter and leave Recovery and what information you can obtain in this mode.
Breaking Jetico BestCrypt
February 3rd, 2021 by Oleg Afonin
BestCrypt, developed by the Finnish company Jetico, is a cross-platform commercial disk encryption tool. Available for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android platforms, BestCrypt is delivered in two editions, one offering full-disk encryption and the other encrypting virtual disk volumes stored in containers, the latter being supported with our tools.
Passcode Unlock and Physical Acquisition of iPhone 4, 5 and 5c
February 2nd, 2021 by Vladimir Katalov
Passcode unlock and true physical acquisition are now available for iPhone 4, 5, and 5c devices – with caveats. Learn about the benefits and limitations of passcode unlocks and true physical imaging of Apple’s legacy devices. Looking for a step by step walkthrough? Check out our imaging guide!
