Learning Computer Forensics

Introduction

• Learning computer forensics
• What you should know

1. Understanding Computer Forensics

• Goals of computer forensics
• History
• Types of investigations
• Tools
• Legal implications
• Current and future trends
• Challenges
• Anti-forensics techniques
• Compliance and forensics
• Cybersecurity and forensics

2. Careers

• Specializations in computer forensics
• Network forensics
• Operating system forensics
• Web forensics
• Cloud forensics
• Malware forensics
• Mobile forensics
• Email forensics
• Certifications

3. Preparing for an Investigation

• Tools and knowledge requirements
• Hardware
• Software
• Understanding hexadecimal (hex) numbers
• Using a hex editor
• Understanding an offset
• Forensics OS distributions

4. File System Fundamentals

• Understanding file systems
• Understanding the boot sequence
• Understanding disk drives
• Understanding the master boot record (MBR)
• Understanding partitioning

5. Preserving Data

• Evidence preservation approaches
• Understanding the role of write blockers
• Using a software write blocker
• Using hardware write blockers
• Understanding hashing
• Hashing algorithms
• Hashing in FTK Imager
• Understanding mounting
• Mounting manually

6. Acquiring Data

• Data acquisition approaches
• Static acquisition with open-source tools
• Creating split-disk image files with dd
• Static acquisition with dcfldd
• Live acquisition with a commercial tool
• Memory dump analysis with volatility

7. Analyzing Data

• Forensic data analysis
• Indexing
• Searching
• Generating a report
• Hex editor analysis of a file with a wrong extension
• Hex editor analysis of a bit-shifted file
• Steganography

Conclusion

• Next steps