Computer forensics wouldn’t be a walk in the park without the help of various forensic tools and software. Some of them include:
- The disk imaging software which the experts use to record the structure along with contents of the computer hard drive. Apart from copying information in the hard drive, this tool also helps to preserve the files therein as they exist without any alteration.
- Computer forensics investigators also use various hardware or software tools to copy files from hard drives and reconstruct the recovered details bit after another. There are some cases where the forensics investigator may need to remove the hard drive from its physical location before copying the details depending on the manner in which it has been affixed
- Hashing tools are used to make comparisons between the original hard disks to the copies. Forensic tools are used to analyze the data here before assigning it a number which is unique. The copy is confirmed to be a perfect replica of original data if and only if the hash numbers of the original and the copy match
- File recovery programs are used to search for files and before restoring any deleted data. The programs are effectively used to locate data which the computer has marked to delete but the same data has not been overwritten. This, at the end of the day, results in a somewhat incomplete file that becomes a little difficult to analyze.
- Encryption decoding software is used to decrypt data and crack passwords and usernames thus enabling the investigating team to gain access to protected data.
- Several programs have been designed to preserve information in the PC’s random access memory (RAM). Data stored in RAM is lost if power is disconnected when there is no uninterrupted power supply (UPS) or a computer is shut down unlike the information stored in a hard drive. Without the help of computer forensics software, such data would be completely lost.
- Analysis software is used by the experts to carefully sift through all information in a hard drive while looking for some specific content. Owing to the fact that modern computers hold huge gigabytes of data and information, sometimes it becomes very difficult to search for files manually. Some analysis programs, for instance, search and carefully evaluate the internet cookies that help forensics investigators to find out the internet activities of a suspect.
All these computer forensics tools become useful only when the computer forensics investigators apply the right procedures in retrieving, collecting, analyzing, storing and presenting the data for admissibility in a court of law. If this doesn’t happen, legal counsels may rule out that such data is not is not reliable for legal purposes.
Computer forensics experts have been enjoying because the courts have been accepting the evidence presented as reliable. However, this may not continue because the rules for reliability continue to hit new thresholds every other time. Anti-forensics experts also argue that it will take just a short period of time before someone can prove that data provided be forensics experts is actually alterable and highly plausible. If this happens, then computer forensics as a profession will take a new direction altogether.
Issues in Computer Forensics
Before an expert can be deemed ready to handle a computer forensics assignment, a huge chunk of knowledge is required. Apart from that, computer forensics experts are also faced with a number of issues within and around this surging profession. These include:1. Administrative issues - Fitness to practice- there is no assigned and nationalized body which qualifies, check for the competence and integrity of computer forensics specialists in many jurisdictions. This means that anyone can present themselves before the customers posed as a computer forensics expert. This may lead to the results of an investigation being termed as highly questionable in terms of quality and professionalism.
Acceptable standards- there are several guidelines and standards in this emerging profession of computer forensics that are deemed universally accepted. This happens because the standards are aimed at commercial forensics or law enforcement or essentially both. However, the high joining fees charged and the fact that some of the authors of such standards have not been accepted by their peers is blocking others from becoming part of these standards. Therefore, the challenge of having a universally acceptable body with such standards still exists.
2. Legal issues - Sometimes it can happen that legal arguments lead to confusion or distraction in the case of the findings of a computer examiner. For instance, we may have the Trojan defence in a PC. This is a computer code which is initially disguised as benign but it exists for a malicious and hidden function. Trojans may be used to upload and download files, log keys and install viruses in a PC. Lawyers may argue that the actions in a computer were actually not initiated by the user but by some Trojan program installed therein. Such a defense has been applied in a court of law even when it was very clear that there were absolutely no traces of Trojan in the computer. If a case is argued in such a manner then a competent lawyer can dismiss with the help of analysis from a computer forensics expert.
3. Technical issues - These are significant issues relating to the technicality and machines being used in computer forensics. They include:
New technologies-forensic computing is a field which is flooded with a lot of innovation and new technologies. Coupled with the fact that computer forensics is essentially an emerging field that comes with new software, hardware and relevant operating systems. It is important to note that we don’t have a single forensics examiner who can qualify as an expert in all areas even though they could frequently analyze what could have happened or encountered before. In order to effectively deal with such a situation, the examiner needs to be prepared to test, experience and conclude on the behaviour of any new computer technologies before using them in the field. Extensive networking and careful sharing of knowledge with the rest of computer forensics investigators is a landmark step because you will always discover that one professional has already the given issue before.
Anti-forensics-this is the practice where there are attempts to thwart the efforts of computer forensics analysts. The principal aim of anti-forensics experts is to prove that the practice of computer forensics can be manipulated to the disadvantage of the suspect. All these processes may include encryption of data, overwriting the data with the aim of making in unrecoverable, modification of metadata in the files and obfuscation of files or disguising of files. The evidence of such methods, just like in the case of encryption, may actually be stored elsewhere in the PC or a different section where the potential suspect may have gained access to. But with the experience of the Jacksonville computer forensics experts, anti-forensics tools can be used frequently and correctly with a view to obscuring their presence or rather the presence of evidence which had been hidden beforehand.
Increasing storage media and space-there are new storage media being reported regularly because of increased research and innovation. Nowadays many businesses and organizations are investing in storage media that handle vast amounts of data. This means that the computer forensics investigators have to continuously invest a lot of resources to develop tools and software that can handle these new media. The qualities of new software and tools should have adequate processing power and ability to sufficiently search and analyze huge amounts of data.
Encryption-it is something normal for many organizations and personnel to encrypt data and information in order to prevent unauthorized access. However, these encrypted hard drives and files sometimes prove difficult for the investigators to crack because of absence of the correct password or key. The examiners need to consider that the password or key could be stored elsewhere in the same PC or a different computer that the suspect has gained access to. The key or password may also reside in the computer’s volatile memory or RAM that is often lost if the computer is shut down. This is potentially the other reason why computer forensics experts ought to consider acquisition and application of live acquisition techniques for efficiency and effectiveness.
Computer forensics has helped to reduce and essentially mitigate various forms of crime thus bringing sanity to business and the whole society at large.
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