Book Image

Learn Computer Forensics

By : William Oettinger
Book Image

Learn Computer Forensics

By: William Oettinger

Overview of this book

A computer forensics investigator must possess a variety of skills, including the ability to answer legal questions, gather and document evidence, and prepare for an investigation. This book will help you get up and running with using digital forensic tools and techniques to investigate cybercrimes successfully. Starting with an overview of forensics and all the open source and commercial tools needed to get the job done, you'll learn core forensic practices for searching databases and analyzing data over networks, personal devices, and web applications. You'll then learn how to acquire valuable information from different places, such as filesystems, e-mails, browser histories, and search queries, and capture data remotely. As you advance, this book will guide you through implementing forensic techniques on multiple platforms, such as Windows, Linux, and macOS, to demonstrate how to recover valuable information as evidence. Finally, you'll get to grips with presenting your findings efficiently in judicial or administrative proceedings. By the end of this book, you'll have developed a clear understanding of how to acquire, analyze, and present digital evidence like a proficient computer forensics investigator.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1: Acquiring Evidence
6
Section 2: Investigation
12
Section 3: Reporting

Writing the report

The purpose of your report is to document the results of your forensic examination and may support additional investigative endeavors. The report may also be used in criminal court proceedings, civil court proceedings, or administrative proceedings. Others can use your findings to support a probable cause hearing, grand jury proceeding, or as a basis for an administrative sanction in the corporate environment.

Your report will be the first step in providing testimony regarding the matter you are investigating. The opposition will scrutinize your report and if they call you to testify, expect to be questioned about the content of the report you created.

As you prepare to draft a report, identify who will be your audience. If you are writing the report for the Chief of Information, the IT security section, or any technology-based group, your report should go into much greater technical detail than the report directed toward lawyers, judges, or juries. If you...