As most of you know by now, I’m currently training to be a psychotherapist, because I don’t have enough strings to my bow already. I know I want to practise existential psychotherapy but I’m not yet clear on whether there’s a particular group of clients I’d like to work with. I’ve recently been thinking, however, about working with law enforcement officers, particularly those who are engaged in investigating cases of child exploitation, human trafficking and counter terror. I have the advantage of understanding these industries from the inside, and hopefully with the benefit of psychotherapy training I’ll be able to make a difference to the field by helping people to deal with some of the things they’re seeing. (more…)
computer forensics
A Recap And Some Results
In digital forensics news recently, I’ve posted a couple of things over at Forensic Focus.
Firstly, a recap of ICDF2C 2018, which took place in New Orleans a few weeks ago. An interesting conference, pleasantly small and with a strong focus on academia, it’s definitely one to watch. Read my full round-up here. (more…)
Executing Windows Command Line Investigations by Hosmer, Bartolomie & Pelli
I met Chet Hosmer at DFRWS in Providence, Rhode Island, earlier this year. Over lunch I explained my upcoming digital forensics book to him, and he was very supportive. When I arrived back in England a copy of one of his books was waiting for me, along with an encouraging note.
Well, the DFIR book project has taken a backseat over the last few months due to me taking on a new psychology of religion research project, but maybe it’ll come back. In the meantime I thought I’d take a look at Chet’s book and write a quick review of it. (more…)
Angus Marshall talks about standardisation
The hottest topic in digital forensics at the moment, standardisation is on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Following various think pieces on the subject and a plethora of meetings at conferences, I spoke to Angus Marshall about his latest paper and what he thinks the future holds for this area of the industry. You can find the interview here.
Review: BlackLight from BlackBag
When I had a meeting with BlackBag a while ago, I was pleasantly surprised by how knowledgeable and enthusiastic the representatives seemed about their products. Not only were they open to showing me all sorts of things the tools could do, they also knew the back stories to how they were created, and why they’re necessary for the field.
So when I got the chance to review the latest version of BlackLight, I decided to go for it. (more…)
Interviews with digital forensics practitioners
In one of my day jobs, I edit Forensic Focus, which includes writing articles, interviewing key industry figures, and spending far too much of my life at conferences.
Recently I’ve interviewed a few people about their areas of forensic expertise, so I thought I’d share them here in case you missed them. (more…)
Review: Analyze DI Pro From Griffeye
Those of you who know about my work in digital forensics will probably be aware that I got into the field because I’m very passionate about child protection, so anyone who champions that cause is someone I’m probably going to like. Magnet Forensics has been doing this for years, but recently I became aware of Griffeye, whom I somehow hadn’t heard of before.
A while ago they asked me to review their Analyze DI Pro solution as part of my work over at Forensic Focus, so I did. (more…)
Have Your Say In The House Of Lords’ Select Committee On Science And Technology
Controversy has been raging around ISO 17025 ever since the standard was adopted for digital forensics back in October 2017. Although many people who work in the industry agree that standardisation is advisable and probably necessary if we are to keep moving forward, there have been many criticisms of ISO 17025 and its effectiveness when it comes to digital forensics.
The baseline of the problem seems to be that ISO 17025 was not specifically designed for digital forensics; instead, it takes the standards of ‘wet’ or traditional forensics and applies them to computing devices. This has a number of issues, not least the fact that technological advances are constantly happening; in a field where most large apps are being updated a couple of times per month as a minimum, it becomes very difficult to properly standardise tools and methodologies.
Another concern for many people is the cost associated with accrediting a lab and keeping up with ISO 17025. Reports of accreditation costing in excess of £50,000 have made some practitioners nervous about applying.
A couple of interviews
The book I’m gradually (veeeery gradually) writing about starting out in digital forensics will eventually have several interviews in it, to help people see what it’s really like to work in the industry. If you’re interested in being one of the interviewees, drop me a line.
In the meantime, here are a couple of interviews I did on Forensic Focus recently. (more…)
MacQuisition From BlackBag Technologies
A few weeks ago I met up with a representative from BlackBag Technologies in a Breather room in London. He showed me how MacQuisition works and talked me through some of its capabilities.
Then I flew off to various conferences around Europe and the USA, and I finally got back last week so I have posted my review of the product. You can find it on Forensic Focus.
Also, sorry for the lack of posts recently. I’m trying to do about a million things but it’s 35 degrees in London today and they’re predicting it’ll reach 37 on Friday. I cannot brain in this heat.
SQLite Forensics by Paul Sanderson
SQLite forensics is an important part of many digital forensic investigations. Most smartphones and computer operating systems use SQLite, with each device often including hundreds of databases. Despite this extreme proliferation, SQLite forensics is often overlooked in conversations about current trends in digital forensics. Paul Sanderson’s book attempts to redress the balance and bring attention to the importance of SQLite forensics. (more…)
Techno Security 2018 Round-Up
This article is a recap of some of the main highlights from the Techno Security & Forensic Investigation Conference 2018, which took place in Myrtle Beach, SC from the 3rd-6th June 2018.
Under the sunny skies of South Carolina, the digital forensic community got together at the beginning of June this year to discuss topics ranging from international espionage to the admissibility of evidence obtained from the cloud. (more…)
