Snapchats Don't Disappear: Forensics Firm Has Pulled Dozens of Supposedly-Deleted Photos...

Forbes ^ | May 9, 2013 | Kashmir Hill

[grundle]

Full title: Snapchats Don't Disappear: Forensics Firm Has Pulled Dozens of Supposedly-Deleted Photos From Android Phones

A 24-year-old forensics examiner from Utah has made a discovery that may make some Snapchat users think twice before sending a photo that they think is going to quickly disappear. Richard Hickman of Decipher Forensics found that it’s possible to pull Snapchat photos from Android phones simply by downloading data from the phone using forensics software and removing a “.NoMedia” file extension that was keeping the photos from being viewed on the device. He published his findings online and local TV station KSL has a video showing how it’s done.

“I was surprised no one else had done it because of how easy it was,” said Hickman by phone. “It just took a couple of days to discover it.”

Hickman started the research while in a Mobile Forensics Class this spring. He says it’s come in useful at Decipher Forensics as clients have wanted Snapchat evidence from phones in divorce and missing teenager cases. He says they have grabbed 60 to 70 deleted Snapchats from phones so far, with at least 40 photos taken from just one phone.

[Uncle Miltie]

Anthony Weiner Alert?

[KarlInOhio]

Was the author of snapchat stupid or intentionally leaving stuff behind? If I claimed that my software was secure because I erased the photos I would actually overwrite the photos. It might be possible to so something with the flash to tell what data had been there and it might have to be overwritten multiple times to make it more secure. But just renaming a file? Lame!

[James C. Bennett]

The creators of SnapChat have declared from the beginning that the ability to screenshot has not been disabled.

For Apple iPhone users, that would be pressing the home button and the power button simultaneously.

[wonkowasright]

U might say that the phones are a Weiner Holder

[null and void]

Android. Google. “Don’t Be Evil”. ‘nuff said?

[I want the USA back]

OOOOO, they can find photos that were deleted! And what right do they have to do that? And what do the undeleted photos prove?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I don't even know what snapchat is, and never plan on knowing.

[Bobalu]

There is a lot of data hanging around in devices that people are unaware of.

Any time you have data moving around in a device it is possible to look at the data and store it somewhere if needed.

Checksums of images can be stored in only a few bytes of data. Text can be compressed enormously and stored. Date/time/location can be stored in a few bytes....

Pretty much any device is smart now... meaning there is a processor on board that can be programmed to do nearly anything with data. Flash memory is extremely cheap now and is a good way to store data.

Data can be transmitted by many means as well... two old-school methods are RF and alterations in the timing of various processes. Don’t imagine that RF has to be picked up by a nearby receiver... there are systems with greater than 85Db of gain involved in this and communication can even be two-way.

Even a hobbyist can play in this arena. I took an 80 cent ATtiny85 and stuck it into a keyboard to look for character strings and store them in the tiny amount of flash inside the chip...easy peezey. Entering a certain sequence of characters caused the stored data to be sent as if it were being typed again. (I used notepad to capture the keystrokes)