Digital Data Extraction for Vehicles Forensic Investigation

In a criminal investigation, vehicles are quickly becoming another crucial source of digital evidence. When a car is involved in a criminal offensive such as road traffic accidents, drunk driving even a robbery or a terrorist attack, investigators typically focus on the capture of DNA, fingerprints, and other non-digital identifying materials. (e.g. calls, contacts, messages, pictures, videos and even web history). This paper is to present our findings undertaken on a 2008 Mitsubishi colt with non-factory fitted equipment which in the 2000s many drivers wanted extra comfort while driving to their own music and even connect the mobile device to their vehicles to call others. By using Mobile forensic techniques and On-board Diagnostics (OBD) software to read the vehicles engine status we can show what data is stored within a vehicle and if there is enough to support a case. This Investigation involves a Maxtek Dashboard camera, Ankeway Head unit, the ECU within the vehicle, a Samsung galaxy Android tablet and it’s our goal to show the techniques used to show the different types off data receivable from the vehicle mentioned.