Recently, a heartwarming incident caught the attention of netizens when the police recovered a cellphone containing photos of a deceased daughter and returned it to her father. The victim, Mr. A (64), had his phone stolen while he briefly placed it on a railing during interior work. Being unfamiliar with information and communication devices, he was unable to transfer the photos of his daughter stored on the phone to another storage device, leading him to seek help from the police in despair.
Through meticulous and persistent investigation, the police apprehended the theft suspect nine days after launching the investigation. However, the phone had been reset, and all photos were deleted. Using digital forensic techniques to recover deleted data, the police restored the deleted photos for the victim. Concerned about future loss or theft, they copied the photos onto a USB drive and returned both the phone and the USB to the victim.
For the victim, the phone was not merely a communication device but the only medium to remember his daughter who passed away after battling illness. As such, the positive impact of digital forensics used to restore the deleted photos has drawn significant attention.
Choi Gyu-jong, CEO of KDFT Korea Digital Forensic Technology Standards Institute Co., Ltd., stated, “Digital forensics is a technology for people,” adding, “It is a meaningful endeavor that can help someone.”
In fact, the scope of digital forensics, often perceived as primarily used in violent crime cases, is steadily expanding. It is now utilized not only for restoring precious photos and videos of family, relatives, and pets but also in corporate business areas and personal information protection system audits.
Accordingly, KDFT Korea Digital Forensic Technology Standards Institute Co., Ltd. has established an independent forensic process based on patents related to digital forensic devices and systems, such as the ‘Client Customizing-Based Digital Forensic Service Provision System’ and the ‘Digital Forensic Device for Portable Electronic Device Data Recovery Equipped with Light Sources and Filters for Sorting Means,’ providing one-on-one customized forensic services.
KDFT Korea Digital Forensic Technology Standards Institute Co., Ltd. possesses specialized technology for memory access and forensic analysis to extract user data from over 1,200 domestic cellphone models (2G-5G). They offer various data recovery services, including restoring deleted photos from not only the latest smartphones but also older phones such as 2G and 3G models. However, depending on the release year and circumstances, data recovery may not always be possible, so identifying issues through one-on-one consultation is prioritized, according to officials.
KDFT Korea Digital Forensic Technology Standards Institute Co., Ltd.’s social contribution activities and advisory history through digital forensic technology are also notable. CEO Choi Gyu-jong donated his digital forensic expertise free of charge to recover cellphone data of victims in the Sewol ferry disaster, providing smoking-gun evidence for the investigation. Recently, the institute has provided digital forensic investigations and related consultations for broadcasts such as ‘TV Chosun Investigative Report Seven’ and ‘MBC PD Notebook.’ Notably, evidence uncovered through KDFT’s digital forensic results became a decisive clue in the ‘TV Chosun Investigative Report Seven’ case, attracting significant attention.
According to Transparency Market Research, a U.S. market research consulting firm, the global digital forensic market is growing at an annual rate of 9.7% and is expected to reach $6.65 billion (approximately 8 trillion KRW) by 2025. As digital forensics is applied across various fields and digital devices, the market size is gradually expanding. The next steps of KDFT Korea Digital Forensic Technology Standards Institute Co., Ltd., which is making remarkable progress and exerting positive influence in the forensic field, are highly anticipated.
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