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FutureLearn

Practical: Cyber Investigator

PA Consulting via FutureLearn

Overview

Put what you have learned into practice to develop your digital forensics skills

Almost every investigation: criminal, civil, corporate, HR, or security will include a digital element. It is vital that the investigator can correctly interpret and present the complex digital evidence so that it can withstand scrutiny – it may be the key that proves or disproves an investigation.

Once you have completed the courses on the Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Expert Track, this four-week practical course will help you gain hands-on experience in using digital evidence.

You’ll learn how to put the five-phase investigation model into practice, with a focus on the identification and preservation of digital evidence.

Learn how to carry out data interpretation

The course will help you develop an understanding of the requirements for a digital investigation.

You’ll explore different scenarios to learn how to examine, recover, extract, and interpret data. This understanding will help you collect data in a forensically sound manner, translate raw data from sources that are compressed, encoded, or encrypted, and provide investigational context to the data.

You’ll also learn how to present your interpreted data in a way that can be understood by others.

Learn practical skills for dealing with digital evidence alongside PA Consulting

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to explain the importance of evidential and forensic integrity. You’ll know how data can be hidden from the investigator and be able to present complex digital matters that can withstand scrutiny.

Learning from Jim Metcalfe, a digital forensic investigator, cyber security incident responder, and expert witness at PA Consulting, you’ll finish the course with practical knowledge on how to handle digital evidence required for legal or disciplinary proceedings.

This course is designed for anyone who has completed the Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Expert Track.

It will help you gain practical experience in digital investigation and forensics.

Syllabus

  • Practical Investigation - Introductions, Phases 1 & 2, Identification and Preservation
    • Welcome to ExpertTrack
    • Welcome, Aims, Objectives and Motivations
    • Investigation Process and Software
    • Phase 1 - Identification
    • Phase 2 - Preservation
    • Weekly knowledge check
  • Practical Investigation - Phase 3, Examination
    • Introduction and Objectives
    • Developing an effective examination strategy
    • Data Reduction - Finding potential evidence
    • Hiding Data
    • Databases
    • Data Recovery and Extraction
    • Weekly knowledge check
  • Practical Investigation - Phase 4 (Interpretation) and Phase 5 (Reporting)
    • Welcome to week three
    • Contextualising Data
    • Tracking User Activity
    • How to Report
    • Moving on

Taught by

Beatrix Daniel

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