Sifting through the ashes: Amazon Fire TV stick acquisition and analysis

Abstract

The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a popular device that is the centre of entertainment for many homes. Its collection of functions and features generates a considerable amount of data, giving this device the potential to be included in a multiple investigations. Highlighting a clear requirement for a forensic analysis of the device. Previous research of smart entertainment devices focuses on the larger areas of the market including Smart TV's, smart speakers and smart watches. All have provided potential forensic artefacts that can be used in investigations. However, data is often acquired using methods that can compromise the forensics of the data. An Amazon Fire TV Stick was populated with data following a methodology that captured the multiple uses of the device. A chip off acquisition method was then applied to acquire a forensic image. Analysis demonstrated there were a number of artefacts recoverable relating to the system, users and Kodi. The majority of the relevant artefacts identified were located in SQLite3 databases and XML files.