Paraben has released a new electronic device designed to capture all data that a cell phone contains. The device is called the Cellular Seizure Investigation Stick or CSI Stick. The device plugs into a cell phone's data port and can copy all the data off the device including: e-mails, instant messages, text messages, call logs, contact lists, spread sheets, pictures, movies, or anything else stored on the device (even deleted files that haven't been overwritten). In addition, the device leaves no trace that data was compromised. Currently a long list of Motorola and Samsung cell phone models are supported, but the company states that more manufactures and models will be supported in the next generation. [more]
The device was built primarily to help government agencies gather forensic grade data from cell phones, but it is available to the public. The device costs $199 and the software to analyze the captured data on your PC runs $99 to $895 depending on the features you need. The next time you loan your cell phone to someone or leave it unattended be aware that someone could quickly steal all the data off of it by simply plugging in a CSI Stick. To reduce the risk of this threat you should store as little sensitive data on your cell phone as possible and never leave your cell phone unattended.