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Initialization Vectors

Alexis Brignoni

Access and status

Cost

Free

Free to read or download at source. No account, no purchase.

Status

Current

Current as at the verification date below. Standards and tools both move — confirm at source before you rely on it.

What it is

Alexis Brignoni's blog on mobile forensics and open-source tooling, closely tied to the xLEAPP family of parsers — iLEAPP, ALEAPP, RLEAPP and VLEAPP — which he maintains with others.

Who it is for, and when

Read it to understand what the LEAPP parsers actually do to a database before you cite their output, and to follow artifact research that usually lands as a new parser module rather than just a write-up. The associated project site leapps.org now carries an artifact browser that maps artifacts to the parsers that handle them. Most recent post 31 May 2026.

What it does not cover

Coverage is mobile and open-source-tool centred; it does not address commercial tool workflows in depth, nor computer-side or cloud forensics.

Go to the source

Open at abrignoni.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

https://abrignoni.blogspot.com/

Details

Type
Blog or channel
Written for
Working examinerAdvancedWorking examiner, Advanced
Author
Alexis Brignoni
Topics
mobile, ios, android, scripting, sqlite, training
Checked at source
  • A family of open-source Python parsers for mobile and returns data: iLEAPP for iOS logs, events and plists, ALEAPP for Android, and RLEAPP for returns and records from cloud and carrier providers. All three are released very frequently and are among the most actively maintained tools in mobile forensics.

  • An open-access reference to the structures underneath mobile evidence, in two parts: mobile file systems (APFS, Ext4, F2FS, QNX6) and the serialisation formats that carry app data (SQLite, property lists, Java serialization, Realm, protocol buffers), each chapter written by a specialist and each noting the forensic value of the structure.

  • A device-by-device walkthrough of mobile acquisition and analysis: iOS and Android internals and file systems, logical and physical extraction, app and SQLite artifacts, cloud extraction, mobile malware and reporting.

  • The research blog of Hexordia, a mobile forensics training and consulting firm, with posts from a named group of contributors including Jessica Hyde, Adam Hachem, Nicholas Dubois, Elizabeth McPherson, Debbie Garner and Kim Gatson.

  • A research blog by Joshua Hickman covering mobile and Apple-platform artifacts, timestamp semantics and the test images he builds and publishes for the community.