A Hands-On Mobile Device Forensics Course in Cybersecurity Education

Mobile device forensics is becoming increasingly important in various forensics investigations as mobile devices are becoming more powerful and affordable, and people rely on mobile devices more than ever for their daily communication and activities. This paper presents the course development of mobile device forensics for undergraduate students in computer science. The course aims to help students in learning of essential knowledge and skills needed in mobile device forensics via hands-on practice. The course combines theory-based lectures, live demonstrations and practical hands-on labs, which proves to be a strong approach for mobile forensics education. Lab projects are designed to cover different aspects in practical mobile device forensics, including logical/physical acquisition and evidence analysis on various systems features and mobile apps. Via lab projects, students can practice with both open-source tools and commercials tools, which are widely used in the professional field. Student feedback indicates that they have obtained very positive learning experiences despite the challenges involved in the remote learning mode due to coronavirus pandemic. Details of course design and lab projects are provided in the hope of helping instructors who plan to introduce mobile device forensics topics.