Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

7-10

Authors: Christopher Kelley

Digital forensic practitioners are faced with an extraordinary opportunity. In fact, we may never again be faced with such an opportunity, and this opportunity will challenge us in ways we may never again be challenged. At this point in the history of the Digital Forensics profession, digital forensic specialists have the unique opportunity to help this profession emerge from its infancy. But for this profession to mature -- and to flourish -- individuals and organizations integral to the practice must assemble and shape its future. This is our opportunity. In fact, this is our mandate.

17-30

Authors: Patryk Szewczyk

In theory an ADSL router is capable of providing immense security capabilities including but not limited to wireless encryption, denial of service prevention through firewall rule sets, and logging facilities for review or analysis of network events. However, most laymen may be unaware of the intricacies of the security measures available to them. As a result a vast array of information could remain on ADSL routers once the device is sold, including the users' approach to security, Internet usage habits, or more importantly confidential user or account information. This paper presents the findings of data acquired from second hand ADSL routers purchased during the first quarter of 2011. The outcomes demonstrate that individuals are not removing their identity adequately and are leaving confidential data which may lead to detrimental outcomes if misused. The paper also demonstrates that the overall security of these devices is alarmingly low, and thus many consumers may fall victim to new and emergent Internet based crimes.

63-74

Authors: Gregory H. Carlton, Joe Matsumoto

As the proliferation of digital computational systems continue to expand, increasingly complex technologies emerge, including those regarding large, enterprise-wide, information storage and retrieval systems. Within this study, we examine four contemporary enterprise storage technologies. Our examination of these technologies is presented with an overview of the technological features of each offering and then followed with a discussion of the impact of these technologies on digital forensics methods, particularly regarding forensic data acquisition. We offer a general opinion concerning a recommended data acquisition method when faced with the task of obtaining a forensic image of data contained within these technologies, we discuss limitations of our study, and lastly, we suggest areas in which additional research would benefit the field of digital forensics.

79-86

Authors: Nick Flor, Haile Shannon

Most information systems are secured at minimum by some form of password protection. For various reasons a password may be unavailable, requiring some form of password recovery procedure. One such procedure is software-based automated password recovery, where a program attempts to log into a system by repeatedly trying different password combinations. At the core of such software is a password generator. This article describes the basic iterative and recursive algorithms for generating all possible passwords of a given length, which is commonly referred to as brute-force password generation. The paper ends with a discussion of alternative password recovery procedures one should attempt before brute-force password recovery.

7-8

Authors: Simson Garfinkel

Inheritance powder is the name that was given to poisons, especially arsenic, that were commonly used in the 17th and early 18th centuries to hasten the death of the elderly. For most of the 17th century, arsenic was deadly but undetectable, making it nearly impossible to prove that someone had been poisoned. The first arsenic test produced a gas hardly something that a scientist could show to a judge. Faced with a growing epidemic of poisonings, doctors and chemists spent decades searching for something better.

17-24

Authors: Peter Hannay

The Amazon Kindle eBook reader supports a wide range of capabilities beyond reading books. This functionality includes an inbuilt cellular data connection known as Whispernet. The Kindle provides web browsing, an application framework, eBook delivery and other services over this connection. The historic data left by user interaction with this device may be of forensic interest. Analysis of the Amazon Kindle device has resulted in a method to reliably extract and interpret data from these devices in a forensically complete manner.

49-64

Authors: M. Tariq Banday

Electronic Mail (E-Mail), which is one of the most widely used applications of Internet, has become a global communication infrastructure service. However, security loopholes in it enable cybercriminals to misuse it by forging its headers or by sending it anonymously for illegitimate purposes, leading to e-mail forgeries. E-mail messages include transit handling envelope and trace information in the form of structured fields which are not stripped after messages are delivered, leaving a detailed record of e-mail transactions. A detailed header analysis can be used to map the networks traversed by messages, including information on the messaging software and patching policies of clients and gateways, etc. Cyber forensic e-mail analysis is employed to collect credible evidence to bring criminals to justice. This paper projects the need for e-mail forensic investigation and lists various methods and tools used for its realization. A detailed header analysis of a multiple tactic spoofed e-mail message is carried out in this paper. It also discusses various possibilities for detection of spoofed headers and identification of its originator. Further, difficulties that may be faced by investigators during forensic investigation of an e-mail message have been discussed along with their possible solutions.

7-14

Authors: Fred Cohen

In a recent study, digital forensics was found to lack a consensus around even the most basis notions and terminology of the field. To quote: These two preliminary studies individually suggest that scientific consensus in the area of digital forensic evidence examination is lacking in the broad sense, but that different groups within that overall community may have limited consensus around areas in which they have special expertise, and that the current peer reviewed publication process is not acting to bring about the sorts of elements typically found in the advancement of a science toward such a consensus. ... perhaps the most significant challenge may be in the development of a common language to describe the field.

37-54

Authors: Fred Cohen

This paper describes a case study in which a method for forensic analysis of control was applied to resolve probative technical issues in a legal action. It describes one instance in which the analysis was successfully applied without challenge, addresses the details of most of the different facets of the analysis method, and demonstrates how such analysis provides a systematic approach to using technical methods to address legal issues as a case study.

73-76

Authors: Christopher Schulte

Morrissey, S. (2010). iOS Forensic Analysis: For iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. New York: Apress. 372 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4302-3342-8, US$59.99. Reviewed by Christopher Schulte, EnCE & ACE, LuciData Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota (cschulte@lucidatainc.com) As Digital Forensics practitioners, we know that our discipline is constantly evolving. Keeping abreast means we need to continually refine and broaden our knowledge pools through experience, education, research, peer exchange, and more. Mobile device forensics can be especially dynamic and challenging. With multiple standards in place at the hardware, operating system, and user interface levels, it can be daunting to preserve, analyze, search and report on these tiny yet ubiquitous hand-held computers. Apple Computer’s line of mobile products (iOS devices - iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) is no exception to this rule.

5-30

Authors: Khawla Abdulla Alghafli, Andrew Jones, Thomas Anthony Martin

The recovery of digital evidence of crimes from storage media is an increasingly time consuming process as the capacity of the storage media is in a state of constant growth. It is also a difficult and complex task for the forensic investigator to analyse all of the locations in the storage media. These two factors, when combined, may result in a delay in bringing a case to court. The concept of this paper is to start the initial forensic analysis of the storage media in locations that are most likely to contain digital evidence, the Windows Registry. Consequently, the forensic analysis process and the recovery of digital evidence may take less time than would otherwise be required. In this paper, the Registry structure of Windows 7 is discussed together with several elements of information within the Registry of Windows 7 that may be valuable to a forensic investigator. These elements were categorized into five groups which are system, application, networks, attached devices and the history lists. We have discussed the values of identified elements to a forensic investigator. Also, a tool was implemented to perform the function of extracting these elements and presents them in usable form to a forensics investigator.

43-64

Authors: Andy Jones, Craig Valli, Glenn Dardick, Iain Sutherland, G. Dabibi, Gareth Davies

The ever increasing use and reliance upon computers in both the public and private sector has led to enormous numbers of computers being disposed of at the end of their useful life within an organisation. As the cost of computers has dropped, their use in the home has also continued to increase. In most organisations, computers have a relatively short life and are replaced on a regular basis with the result that, if not properly cleansed of data, they are released into the public domain containing data that can be relatively up to date. This problem is exacerbated by the increasing popularity and use of smart phones, which also contain significant storage capacity. From the results of the research it remains clear that the majority of organisations and private individuals that are using these computers still remain ignorant or misinformed of the potential volume and type of information that is stored on the hard disks contained within these systems. The evidence of the research is that neither organisations nor individuals have considered, or are aware of, the potential impact of the information that is contained in the disks from these systems becoming available to an unintended third party. This is the fifth study in an ongoing research programme being conducted into the levels and types of information that remain on computer hard disks that have been offered for sale on the second hand market. This ongoing research series has been undertaken to gain an understanding of the level and types of information that remains on these disks, to determine the damage that could potentially be caused if the information was misused, and to determine whether there are any developing trends. The disks used have been purchased in a number of countries. The rationale for this was to determine whether there are any national or regional differences in the way that computer disks are disposed of and to compare the results for any regional or temporal trends. The disks were obtained from a wide range of sources in each of the regions in order to minimise the effect of any action by an individual source.

5-32

Authors: Graeme Baxter Bell, Richard Boddington

Digital evidence is increasingly relied upon in computer forensic examinations and legal proceedings in the modern courtroom. The primary storage technology used for digital information has remained constant over the last two decades, in the form of the magnetic disc. Consequently, investigative, forensic, and judicial procedures are well-established for magnetic disc storage devices (Carrier, 2005). However, a paradigm shift has taken place in technology storage and complex, transistor-based devices for primary storage are now increasingly common. Most people are aware of the transition from portable magnetic floppy discs to portable USB transistor flash devices, yet the transition from magnetic hard drives to solid-state drives inside modern computers has so far attracted very little attention from the research community. Here we show that it is imprudent and potentially reckless to rely on existing evidence collection processes and procedures, and we demonstrate that conventional assumptions about the behaviour of storage media are no longer valid. In particular we demonstrate that modern storage devices can operate under their own volition in the absence of computer instructions. Such operations are highly destructive of traditionally recoverable data. This can contaminate evidence; can obfuscate and make validation of digital evidence reports difficult; can complicate the process of live and dead analysis recovery; and can complicate and frustrate the post recovery forensic analysis. Our experimental findings demonstrate that solid-state drives (SSDs) have the capacity to destroy evidence catastrophically under their own volition, in the absence of specific instructions to do so from a computer.

57-72

Authors: Sameera Mubarak

The integrity of lawyers trust accounts has come under scrutiny in the last few years. There are strong possibilities of information technology security breaches happening within the firms, either accidental or deliberate. The damage caused by these security breaches could be extreme. For example, a trust account fund in an Australian law firm was misused in a security breach in which Telstra charged. A $50,000 for phone usage, mainly for ISD calls to Hong Kong. Our study involved interviewing principles of ten law companies to find out solicitors attitudes to computer security and the possibility of breaches of their trust accounts. We simultaneously carried out a survey to see if the trends identified in our case-studies could be backed up with broader quantitative data. We have also conducted in-depth interviews of 5 trust account regulators from the Law society of South Australia to know their view points on security threats on trust accounts. An overall finding highlights that law firms were not current with technology to combat computer crime, and inadequate access control was a major concern in safeguarding account data. Our conclusions revealed the urgent need for law firms to adopt security controls, implement information security policies and procedures and obtain cooperation from management to communicate these policies to staff.