Results of Field Testing Mobile Phone Shielding Devices

Abstract

This paper is based on thesis research from the authors. Mobile phones are increasingly a source of evidence in criminal investigations. The evidence on a phone is volatile and can easily be overwritten or deleted. There are many devices that claim to radio isolate a phone in order to preserve evidence. There has been little published research on how well these devices work in the field despite the escalating importance of mobile phone forensics. The purpose of this study was to identify situations where the devices used to protect evidence on mobile phones can fail. These devices were tested using mobile phones from three of the largest services providers in the U.S. Calls were made to contact the isolated phones using voice, SMS, and MMS at varying distances from the provider’s towers. In the majority of the test cases the phones were not isolated from their networks.