Digital Forensics Techniques Quiz

Introduction to Digital Forensics

• Digital forensics is the scientific process of identifying, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence in a court of law.
• The process involves examining digital media devices such as computers, smartphones, servers, and storage devices.

Background

• Cyber activity has become a significant part of everyday life for the general public.
• The scope of crime investigation has broadened. 
• Computers and networks are now used widely for enterprise information processing.
• E-commerce (B2B, B2C, C2C) has become a new business model.
• Many facilities are directly controlled by computers.
• Computers and networks are targets for criminal activities like theft, vandalism, espionage, and even cyber warfare.
• 85% of businesses and government agencies have detected security breaches.
• FBI estimates US losses are up to $10 billion per year.
• In the early 1990s, threats to information systems were roughly 80% internal and 20% external.
• With the integration of telecommunications and personal computers into the internet, threats are now nearly evenly split between internal and external agents.

Forensics and Evidence

• Forensics is the application of scientific methods to investigate crimes and gather evidence.
• The goal of forensics is to provide objective evidence usable in legal proceedings.
• Evidence is anything used to prove or disprove a fact, taking various forms in forensics, including physical, testimonial, and documentary evidence.
• Forensic experts play a crucial role in the legal system by identifying suspects, proving guilt or innocence, and reconstructing crime scenes.

What is Digital Forensics?

• Digital forensics is a scientific process of identifying, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence in law.
• Key phases include:
  • Identification (recognizing and identifying potential digital evidence sources)
  • Preservation (ensuring evidence integrity by making copies and preventing alteration)
  • Acquisition (extracting data from devices using specialized tools)
  • Analysis (examining extracted data for relevant information or patterns)
  • Presentation (preparing detailed reports or testimony for court)

Digital Evidence

• Digital data linking a crime to its victim or perpetrator.
• Examples include text, audio, image, and video data.

Types of Digital Forensics

• Digital forensics can be categorized based on the examined evidence type.
  • Computer forensics
  • Mobile device forensics
  • Network forensics
  • Database forensics
  • Cloud forensics
  • Internet forensics
  • Memory forensics
  • Digital audio and video forensics

Computer Forensics

• Examining computers and other digital devices to recover and analyze digital evidence.
• Types of digital evidence in computer forensics include files, metadata, registry entries, system logs, network traffic, temporary files, deleted files, and hidden files.

Mobile Device Forensics

• Examining smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices for digital evidence.
• Types of digital evidence include call logs, text messages, multimedia files, contacts, calendar events, app data, browser history, location data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, and SIM card data

Network Forensics

• Examining network traffic to identify and investigate security incidents, cybercrimes, and network issues.
• Types of digital evidence include network packets, network logs, firewall logs, intrusion detection system (IDS) logs, DNS logs, web server logs, and email server logs.

Cloud Forensics

• Investigating digital evidence stored in cloud-based environments (cloud storage, cloud applications, cloud infrastructure).
• Types of digital evidence include cloud logs, API logs, virtual machine images, cloud storage data, cloud application data, and network traffic.

Common Digital Forensic Techniques

• General techniques:
  • Data carving (recovering deleted or fragmented files)
  • File system analysis (examining file system structure)
  • Digital watermarking (identifying ownership or copyright)
  • Steganography (detecting hidden messages)
  • Hashing (creating a unique digital fingerprint)
• Mobile device forensics:
  • Physical extraction (extracting data directly)
  • Logical extraction (extracting data from backups or using tools)
  • Chip-off extraction (removing flash memory for analysis)
  • SIM card analysis (examining SIM card data)
  • App data extraction (extracting data from installed apps)
• Network forensics:
  • Packet capture (capturing network traffic using tools like Wireshark or tcpdump)
  • Protocol analysis (analyzing network protocols to detect suspicious activity)
  • Flow analysis (analyzing data flow between devices)
  • Port scanning (identifying open ports on a network)
  • Intrusion detection (detecting suspicious activity using IDS tools)
• Cloud forensics:
  • Cloud data acquisition (obtaining cloud data legally or through cooperation)
  • Cloud data analysis (analyzing cloud data for relevant information)
  • Cloud API analysis (analyzing API logs for suspicious activity)
  • Virtual machine forensics (examining virtual machines for evidence)
• Computer forensics
  • Registry analysis (examining Windows Registry)
  • System log analysis (analyzing system logs for security incidents)
  • Artifact analysis (examining digital artifacts)
  • Disk imaging (creating images of storage devices for analysis)

Digital Forensic Tools

• Various tools, specific to each type of forensics, exist to assist
• Some tools examples are shown (the complete list is likely much longer)

Applications of Digital Forensics

• Cybercrime investigation
• Intellectual property theft
• Corporate espionage
• Legal disputes
• Incident response