Forensic analysis of video data deletion and recovery in Honeywell surveillance file system

2026-05-08

AI Summary

This study addresses the forensic challenge posed by proprietary surveillance device file systems, which lack public documentation and hinder video data recovery after deletion. Focusing on Honeywell’s private file system, this work presents the first systematic analysis of three deletion mechanisms—formatting, data expiration, and overwriting—by integrating binary comparison, file system reverse engineering, metadata analysis, and data recovery techniques. The investigation reveals distinct residual characteristics of video data under each deletion method and demonstrates the practical feasibility of recovering deleted footage. Furthermore, the research establishes a reusable methodological framework for digital forensics on similar proprietary file systems, significantly enhancing both the efficiency and accuracy of forensic investigations.

Abstract

Real-time video surveillance systems store recorded video using digital video recorders (DVRs) and network video recorders (NVRs). To support continuous high-volume video storage, these devices employ specialized, nonstandard file systems that are often proprietary and undocumented. This lack of documentation significantly increases the time and effort required for forensic analysis. In this study, we analyze an undocumented proprietary file system used by Honeywell video surveillance devices-one that, to the best of our knowledge, has not been examined in prior work-and investigate its deletion mechanisms and demonstrate the feasibility of video recovery after deletion. We perform a file system analysis using a binary diffing technique and evaluate three deletion methods supported by the target device: 1) formatting-based deletion, 2) data expiration, and 3) overwrite. For each method, we investigate changes in file system metadata and on-disk data structures and demonstrate the feasibility of video data recovery. Our findings aim to support more efficient and accurate forensic investigations of Honeywell surveillance products and provide foundational insights into the analysis of proprietary file systems used in video recording devices.

Problem

• forensic analysis
• video surveillance
• proprietary file system
• data deletion
• video recovery

Innovation

• proprietary file system
• video recovery
• binary diffing
• forensic analysis
• data deletion