Digital evidence comprises digital information found on a broad range of electronic devices, and it is generally considered by practitioners to consist of only the information held in digital data format that is useful to the forensic examiner because of its value in various legal proceedings. Sources of potential evidence stored on digital devices include e-mails, audio and video files, electronic documents, spreadsheets, databases, system logs, and filesystem data.
Information containing potential evidence is located in files stored on hard drives, memory cards, access control devices such as smart cards, biometric scanners, answering machines, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, printers, removable storage devices, and media such as CD-ROM and DVD discs, telephones, copiers, credit card skimmers, digital watches, facsimile machines, and global positioning systems.
The...