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Tarantula Overview
Intuitive and forensically sound, Tarantula is the ONLY comprehensive system for Chinese cell phone analysis. Tarantula supports all major Chinese manufactured chipsets -- Mediatek, Spreadtrum, and Infineon, even if the phone is pin-locked. Using both full physical and logical methods, Tarantula extracts, decodes, and reports low-level data – even deleted data -- including call logs, SMS, phone book, and critical phone information such as passwords, IMEIs and flash chip identification.
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Included in the Kit:
- Tarantula hardware unit
- 30 Cell phone data cables exclusively for Chinese phones
- Two Tarantula cell phone power cables
- Universal cell phone battery charger
- 3 Standard Window Black Hole Faraday Bags
- Carrying Case
- Tarantula Software
- Dongle
- USB Cable
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Current Version:
Software Version 1.1
Released 2/1/12
Hardware Version 1.1
Released 2/1/12
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Tarantula Features and Specs
Tarantula is a hardware and software solution with features that are constantly being updated by our team. The main features of the product are listed below and updates included in the current version are listed as “new”.
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Automatic Device Definition
Because of the lack of standardization found among them, simply establishing data communication with a Chinese phone can become a large part of the examination effort. Fortunately, Tarantula takes care of this work by automatically defining the phone's data and power pin configurations with special hardware designed exclusively for examination of these devices.
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Full Physical Extraction
Tarantula extracts a full image of the memory chips on Chinese-chip cell phones, not just a copy of the file system. A full physical image (binary file) of the memory chip is extracted which contains all of the undeleted and deleted user information and phone identification information. Tarantula can extract from Mediatek, Spreadtrum, infineon and Mstar chipsets, which together represent over 97% of Chinese-chip phones on the market.
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Logical Extraction
Logical extraction with Tarantula is a supplementary process that can be performed on Mediatek chipsets, which represent roughly 60% of the Chinese-chip phone market. Logical extraction is much quicker and offers the examiner "triage information" from the phone, including the user PIN-code, even if the phone is locked. When time is of the essence, logical extraction can be extremely effective.
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Password Extraction
User passwords are extracted immediately and provided to the examiner during the extraction process. Password extraction is supported for all Chinese chipsets.
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Data Decoding
After acquiring a full physical image of the memory chip, the resulting binary file is decoded to show user information such as passwords, SMS, contacts, and call logs. Tarantula supports decoding for Mediatek, Spreadtrum, Infineon and Mstar chipsets. Tarantula excels in supporting decoding from various languages and character sets across the world such as Arabic and Chinese.
NEW! New chip types have been added to Mediatek and Spreadtrum decoding, providing support for a wider range of phones
NEW! Increased support for decoding of Southeast Asian languages and data storage formats
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Report Generation
After completing the examination, a report can be generated that includes case information, phone identification information, IMEIs, passwords, SMS, contacts, call logs, and more. An audit trail log is created during the examination process that can also be included in the final report.
NEW! Reports can now be exported in three formats, HTML, XML and Excel, allowing you more options for presenting your data.
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Binary File Export
After acquiring a full physical image of a phone with Tarantula, the resulting binary file can be exported. The exported binary file can then be input into third-party tools for further manual or automatic decoding. Tarantula sets itself apart from other tools in this aspect. We do not encrypt our binary files, which means we are offering you what many other tools innapropriately treat as "source code".
NEW! Binary files are now exported with a secondary .txt file that includes a hash and timestamp of the exported file. This .txt file serves as validation of the export.
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Binary File Import
Binary files that have been acquired with third-party tools such as flasher boxes can be imported into Tarantula and decoded.
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About Chinese Phones
Phones with Chinese chips inside of them have traditionally been known as "white-box" phones or clone phones. These devices are made in China by thousands of different manufacturers and shipped all over the world. The reason why these devices have been difficult to analyze is because they are non-standardized. The software and hardware inside of them can be wildly different, presenting unique challenges to the examiner. For example, a white-box phone that attempts to copy an iPhone may use the same size and style of data port as a genuine iPhone, but the electrical configuration of the pins in that port might be different. Tarantula uses specific cables and processes to detect the data and power connections inside of white-box phones, overcoming this significant barrier.
Another barrier to examination is the lack of standardization among the software found in white-box phones. Tarantula uses low-level extraction that essentially bypasses the operating system and reaches only the memory chip. In this way, full physical images of the memory chips on these phones can be acquired, regardless of software differences.
The world of "Chinese phones" is changing rapidly, no longer being defined by white-box phones. Western manufacturers such as Motorola are using Chinese chipsets in their phones as a way to cut costs and serve the lower end of the market. Manufacturers like Lenovo are now producing Android phones based on Chinese chipsets, which is a giant evolutionary leap in the industry. Chinese-chip phones now represent over 30% of phones worldwide, and the number is growing. Tarantula already supports a number of these next generation devices and our team on the ground in China is always working to support more.
Download the Brochure:
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Sales
For a sales quote or any questions, please contact us at sales@edecdigitalforensics.com
Support
If you have already purchased Tarantula and would like to renew the software, please contact us for a quote. If you have questions regarding usage of Tarantula please visit the support section of our website to see usage videos, current documentation, or to issue a support ticket.
Because Chinese chips end up in all types of cell phones, it is difficult for us to tell whether a specific phone is supported before testing with Tarantula. If you have a specific phone, however, and would like our opinion on what type of device it may be, or if Tarantula might support it, please contact us at support@edecdigitalforensics.com and include a picture as well as a description.
Training
Tarantula training will be provided through our training partner, Teel Technologies. Please click here to find out about the latest Teel class on Chinese Cell Phone Forensics.
Documentation
See our Support section for further documentation on Tarantula
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