All USB Cables Are Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others
October 17th, 2025 by Elcomsoft R&D
As we outlined in the previous article (Effective Disk Imaging: Ports, Hubs, and Power), it’s better to connect external USB-C devices (such as adapters and especially write-blockers) to a USB-C port that complies with at least the USB 3.2 Gen2 specs (10 Gbit/s). But what if your computer only has USB-A ports, or only a USB-A port is free? Obviously, you’ll need a USB-C to USB-A cable – but you’ll need to choose the right one very carefully, and that’s not the only thing that matters.
How to Extract Media Files from iOS Devices
January 9th, 2018 by Oleg Afonin
Media files (Camera Roll, pictures and videos, books etc.) are an important part of the content of mobile devices. The ability to quickly extract media files can be essential for an investigation, especially with geotags (location data) saved in EXIF metadata. Pulling pictures and videos from an Android smartphone can be easier than obtaining the rest of the data. At the same time, media extraction from iOS devices, while not impossible, is not the easiest nor the most obvious process. Let’s have a look at tools and techniques you can use to extract media files from unlocked and locked iOS devices.
Extracting and Using iCloud Authentication Tokens
November 30th, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
In our previous blog post, we wrote everything we know about authentication tokens and Anisette data, which might allow you to bypass the “login, password and two-factor authentication” sequence. Let us have a look at how you can actually extract those tokens from a trusted computer and use them on a different computer to access a user’s iCloud account. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.
iCloud Authentication Tokens Inside Out
November 30th, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
iCloud authentication tokens in particular are difficult to grasp. What are they, what tools are they created with, where they are stored, and how and when they can be used are questions that we’re being asked a lot. Let’s try to put things together. Read Part 1 of the series.
The Life and Death of iCloud Authentication Tokens: Historical Perspective
November 30th, 2017 by Vladimir Katalov
What are iCloud authentication tokens? How they are better than good old passwords? Do they ever expire and when? Where to get them? Is there anything else I should know about tokens? This publication opens a new series on token-based authentication.
iOS 11 Horror Story: the Rise and Fall of iOS Security
November 29th, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
We loved what Apple used to do about security. During the past years, the company managed to build a complete, multi-layer system to secure its hardware and software ecosystem and protect its customers against common threats. Granted, the system was not without its flaws (most notably, the obligatory use of a trusted phone number – think SS7 vulnerability – for the purpose of two-factor authentication), but overall it was still the most secure mobile ecosystem on the market.
Breaking Apple iCloud: Reset Password and Bypass Two-Factor Authentication
November 28th, 2017 by Vladimir Katalov
Who am I to tell you to use two-factor authentication on all accounts that support it? This recommendation coming from someone whose business is supplying law enforcement with tools helping them do their job might be taken with a grain of salt by an average consumer. Yet we still strongly believe that, however good a password you have to encrypt your local documents or NAS drives, any remotely popular online service absolutely requires an additional authentication factor.
Target: Apple Two-Factor Authentication
November 28th, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
Two-factor authentication is essential to secure one’s access to online accounts. We studied multiple implementations of two-factor authentication including those offered by Apple, Google and Microsoft. While Google’s implementation offers the largest number of options, we feel that Apple has the most balanced implementation. The closed ecosystem and the resulting deep integration with the core OS makes it easy for Apple to control exactly how it works and on which devices.
The Future of Android Security: Why Google Pushes Away from SMS to Prompt Verification
November 23rd, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
Google has started its journey on convincing people to move away from SMS-based verification, and start receiving push messages via the Google Prompt instead of using six-digit codes. Why does Google want us away from SMS, and why using Google Prompt instead? Let’s try to find out.
iOS 11 Makes Logical Acquisition Trivial, Allows Resetting iTunes Backup Password
November 9th, 2017 by Oleg Afonin
Since early days of iOS, iTunes-style system backups could be protected with a password. The password was always the property of the device; if the backup was protected with a password, it would come out encrypted. It didn’t matter whether one made a backup with iTunes, iOS Forensic Toolkit or other forensic software during the course of logical acquisition; if a backup password was enabled, all you’d get would be a stream of encrypted data.
