Date of Submission
12-15-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Murat Gunestas, Ph.D.
Keywords
Digital Forensics, eBay, Android, Mobile App Artifacts, Open-Source Tools, Data privacy
LCSH
Digital forensic science, Electronic commerce, Mobile device forensics, Open source software, Data privacy
Abstract
This study examined the digital artifacts generated by the eBay mobile application on Android devices to assess their forensic significance and implications for user privacy. Using a controlled experimental setup with emulated Android environments, three user profiles—seller, buyer, and guest—were created to replicate realistic app interactions. Forensic images of each device were acquired using open-source tools and analyzed with Autopsy to identify locally stored artifacts. The results revealed that the eBay app retains measurable data across all user modes. Authenticated sessions produced a greater range of artifacts, including cached images, cookies, analytics identifiers, and SQLite databases containing search queries, user IDs, and configuration data. Guest sessions yielded limited but notable artifacts such as search suggestions, cache files, and device-level telemetry identifiers, indicating that even unauthenticated use leaves a minimal forensic footprint. No plaintext credentials or personally identifiable information were recovered, suggesting that the app employs appropriate data protection mechanisms. These findings confirm that meaningful forensic evidence can be obtained from the eBay app using only open-source tools, supporting their value for transparent and accessible investigations. At the same time, the persistence of session and analytic metadata raises privacy considerations, as such information could potentially reconstruct aspects of user behavior. The research establishes a reproducible methodology for future digital forensic analyses of mobile marketplace applications and contributes to ongoing discussions on balancing forensic accessibility with data privacy.
Recommended Citation
Daniels, Mark, "Role-Driven Comparative Forensic Analysis of an Android Marketplace Mobile App Using Multi-Device Simulation" (2025). Honors Theses. 144.
https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/honorstheses/144