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Research Focus: Software for training in digital forensics – development continues to receive funding

The open-source framework ‘AutoPoD-Mobile’ is funded by the European Anti-Cybercrime Initiative (EACTDA) and helps investigators to develop their skills in combating crime through digital forensics

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Following Mittweida University of Applied Sciences’ admission to the European Anti-Cybercrime Technology Development Association (EACDTA) in 2023, it has now succeeded in securing funding, in collaboration with EACDTA, to develop digital forensics software. Together with his team, Professor Dirk Pawlasczczyk will continue to work on the ‘AutoPoD-Mobile’ tool during the nine-month project period from May 2024 to January 2025. The tool is designed to automatically populate mobile phones with data, thereby creating case-based scenarios. Furthermore, it enables the semi-automatic provision of datasets for mobile forensics. This allows the behaviour of suspects to be simulated as they interact with one another. The result combines mobile device data from normal device usage with case-specific information. In this way, mobile forensic tools can be validated, new techniques tested and realistic training datasets created in the field of mobile forensics.

The software was originally developed during the EU FORMOBILE project in collaboration with the Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector (ZITiS). Further development is now being overseen and reviewed by members of European police forces and forensic institutes as part of the EACTDA project. This direct contact with law enforcement agencies across Europe, in turn, provides insight into current working practices and requirements, and paves the way for further international collaboration and research funding.

If you are interested in the AutoPoD-Mobile tool, please feel free to contact Philipp Engler from Professor Pawlaszczyk’s team by email. If you are interested in EACTDA funding for a project involving the (further) development of software for European developers, please feel free to contact Julia Gerstenberg from the Research Unit by email.

Text: Dirk Pawlaszczyk, Julia Gerstenberg
Image: Margaux Michel (ZITiS) from the EU project FORMOBILE