Let's get back to the basics quickly
and talk cellular technology.
Now, you need to know this because there
are key terminology listed here that will end up
in your forensic report.
And if you're ever questioned, you need to know what it means.
So when we look at CDMA and GSM.
These are two different types of communication levels
for cellular to work on mobile devices.
Depending on where you are in the world,
that is commonly what you're going to see.
But here is a good example.
I'm a Verizon customer.
I live in the United States.
So when we look at this, we see it should be CDMA.
However, what if I have an unlocked device?
Then it becomes GSM.
Most of you will think, I don't care.
And honestly, that's kind of the category
I've have fallen into in the workplace.
The investigations I did on counterterrorism,
it didn't matter if it was CDMA or GSM.
We needed to know who they were talking to,
videos that they were recording, pictures that
were on the device, and so on.
But if I had to testify in court,
that's where this stuff matters.
Is it a certain type of device?
How can it communicate?
Does it rely on certain SIM cards
or not, which we're going to talk about?
And then what happens with the different generations?
As you see in the slide, as we progress from 3G to 4G
LTE to 5G, what improvements are made?
As improvements are made for the user, how does that help us?
And some of you may not think of any examples at this point.
But I want you to think about this.
You will see some screenshots in the slides.
Screenshots are amazing for forensic analysis,
and they are often overlooked.
What happens if you know I'm a Verizon user and I have 5G
on my device, and suddenly, you look at it and you're like,
why does that say 3G or 4G?
Maybe I'm in the middle of the woods,
where I don't have a good cell service coverage.
Maybe a crime happened in those woods.
Maybe you could then say, wait, Heather always
has good service.
Her health data, her location information,
now changed drastically, and she's down
on a lower generation of service.
These technologies can help you with things like that.
What if someone goes deep, deep, deep into a basement,
and their cell tower communication halts or changes?
If you change from 5G to Wi-Fi, now, I
put myself into a facility, or a building,
or someone's house that's connecting.
All of these things are extremely
useful when you are trying to put a person in a location.
And many people don't think about this type of technology,
but it's extremely important that you learn it.