Forensic Analysis of Android Electronic Money Wallet Applications

Abstract

Wave of Digital Transformation is transmuting almost every traditional aspect of our life and same is the case with Money Management. Electronic Money Wallets (EMW) Applications managed through Smartphones have excellent contribution towards the flexible Electronic Money management. These Electronic Money Wallets have brought exceptional convenience for users in Pakistan through flexible Account opening, Payments and Transfers through Smartphone EMW Applications such as Easypaisa, JazzCash, UPaisa, etc. to other wallets or banks. Even now users can transfer money anywhere in Pakistan to a recipient without having a Bank or Electronic Money Wallet account but just having a valid National ID Card. This convenience has added threats of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) compromise, criminal exploitation and Fraudulent Activities. Electronic Money Wallets can store customer personal information, transactions history and balance related data which can be used for investigation purpose and at the same time this information can be also be used by hackers & forensic analyst to gain access to personal data and account info for different purposes. As this business is growing, security concerns of personal & financial information are rapidly increasing. Hackers are continuously trying to exploit the vulnerabilities in the Applications and Process of Electronic Money Wallet Management. Motive of this research is identification and classification of data remnants left in the android mobile device while using Electronic Money Wallets Applications. The artifacts collected from applications will be presented in the form of analysis which will assist forensics investigators to have a better insight towards the behavior of such Applications.