In the world of digital forensics, the well-prepared investigator needs a set of forensic tools. The tools this person will use will help you gather evidence of white collar crime or fraud, document incident evidence, and perhaps put that investigator on the witness stand for expert testimony in any legal proceedings that arise. the process. The tools used by these researchers are primarily software tools, although there are some hardware considerations as well.
The basic computer forensic toolkit will likely be contained on a CD or DVD and will be presented primarily in a word processing format. Any computer forensic investigation produces an enormous amount of paperwork, as the goal of the investigation is to document absolutely everything that is found. These Toolkit CDs are designed to provide the investigator with tried-and-true forms and templates to document everything they find. They also serve as an effective checklist to help the investigation team ensure that no steps are missed and that everything is done in the correct order.
Another important component of the toolkit will be templates and tools to assist in presenting the research findings to management. It is vital that all findings are reported in a professional, unbiased, complete and scientifically sound manner. This is the end product of the investigation, and what the administration believes is what they actually paid the investigators to do. These reports may also end up being the basis (and exhibits) for any legal proceedings that may arise from the process, so it is vital that these reports and presentations are accurate, clear and fully in line with the law.
The primary non-software tool used in a computer forensic toolkit is an imaging device. Making an exact image of the computer’s hard drive (or other storage medium) is the most common first step in data capture. It is absolutely necessary that there be a “clean” copy of the computer’s memory and of the stored data, so that researchers can be sure that they are looking at and analyzing the data in the same precise pattern as it is found in the actual computer. question. . There are many brands of devices available and they all have the same basic function.
First, these devices must make an exact copy of the data. Second, they typically perform the sector-level copy of the disk as a bitstream process (as opposed to a simple file copy process). This method makes a more complete and accurate copy of the data, which, in turn, allows for a more complete and accurate analysis.
