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Computer Forensics For Dummies

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About the Authors

Linda Volonino (Ph.D., MBA, CISSP, ACFE) entered the field of computer forensics in 1998 with a Ph.D. and MBA in Information Systems. She’s taught computer forensics at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, and to attorneys and state Supreme Court Justices as part of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs, and to the FBI. In 2003, Linda was the computer forensics adviser to Michael Battle, then-U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. She’s a computer forensics investigator and expert witness with Robson Forensic, Inc. working for plaintiff and defense lawyers in civil and criminal cases.

Linda’s given many entertaining/frightening seminars, including several in Las Vegas entitled “What Goes On in Vegas, Stays.” She has co-authored four textbooks; two on information technology, one on information security, and one on computer forensics — the latter with Rey Anzaldua and Jana Godwin. She’s a member of InfraGard and Program Chair for the Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law (CDFSL 2009). She can be reached via her blog at http://computerforensicsonline.wordpress.com/.

Reynaldo Anzaldua (MBA, CISSP, EnCE, CHFI, IBM I-Series) has been doing computer forensics since 1987 when it was only thought of as data recovery and considered an arcane geek skill. He has worked the computer field spectrum from computer repair technician to Information Technology director for various firms domestic and international as well as founding several computer related firms. In his current capacity at South Texas College, Rey created a new degree in Information Security and currently instructs in a wide range of computer security subjects. As part of the community mission of South Texas College, he is also working with the State Bar of Texas to offer Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs to help attorneys understand computer forensic issues.

Rey is often asked to comment on television, radio, and newspaper regarding topics such as computer forensics, computer security, Internet privacy issues, and identity theft. In addition to regular media, he also gives seminars and guest speaks for various civic organizations.

He is currently helping to advise members of the Texas Legislature on issues regarding computer forensics and security in addition to keeping busy with a small consulting business specializing in computer, crime scene, and DNA forensics. He has worked with clients at the local, State, Federal, and International level over the years on a wide array of forensic cases as well as co-authoring a previous book on computer forensics.

He can be reached via r.anzaldua@csi-worldwide.com, rey@southtexascollege.edu, or http://computerforensicsonline.wordpress.com/.

Dedication

To my parents and children: Each one encourages me in their unique way to keep reaching higher.

— Reynaldo Anzaldua

Authors’ Acknowledgments

We were most fortunate to have the world’s best team working with us. Great thanks to Amy Fandrei, Acquisitions Editor, and Rebecca Senninger, Project Editor.

And very special thanks to our copy editor Becky Whitney and technical editor Brian Koerner. We’re grateful to Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director of Dummies Tech, for launching the project and Melody Layne, Business Development Account Manager, for putting us into motion. Sincere thanks.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Rebecca Senninger

Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei

Copy Editor: Rebecca Whitney

Technical Editor: Brian Koerner

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Erin Smith

Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Melanee Habig, Melissa K. Jester, Christine Swinford, Christine Williams

Proofreader: Broccoli Information Management

Indexer: Broccoli Information Management

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Who cares about digital footprints? Who cares about invisible trails of unshreddable electronic evidence (e-evidence) left by PCs and cellphones, PDAs and iPods, e-mail and social networks, visited Web sites and instant messaging, and every wireless and online activity? The sweeping answer is that you — and the many other people reading this book — care, and for good reasons. Investigators, attorneys, suspicious spouses, and the news media are legitimately interested in finding out what was sent over the Internet or private networks, what’s stored on backup tapes or logs, and who wrote what in corporate e-mail or the blogosphere.

People concerned with what’s happening to personal privacy certainly care. Anyone involved in litigation, criminal investigation, network intrusion, fraud or financial audit, marital or contract dispute, employment claim, or background check will care — sooner or later. Hardly a case goes to court — or avoids going to court — these days without the help of electronic gumshoes.

Digging up data to expose who did what and when, with whom, where, why, and how is a primary purpose of computer forensics. Computer forensics falls within the broader legal concept of electronic discovery, or e-discovery, the process of gathering data, documents, or e-mail in preparation for legal action that may lead to trial. Both these topics are serious stuff, as you soon find out in this book.

Searches for evildoers or illegal doings are now done megabyte by megabyte. But computers, network logs, and cell devices aren’t only breeding grounds for proof of guilt. E-evidence can be your best alibi if you’re wrongly accused. We’ve lightheartedly dubbed that type of evidence the e-alibi.

Who Should Read This Book?

Computer Forensics For Dummies was written for hands-on and armchair investigators. It’s designed to give you more than just a basic understanding of digital detective work, e-discovery, computer forensics, and e-evidence. Assume that we’re looking over your shoulder to guide you to do what’s right and to avoid doing irreversible wrongs.

This book is for individuals concerned about how their personal information becomes digitally recorded — investigators looking for a smoking gun or smoldering e-mail held in all types of electronic media; professionals required by lawsuit or audit to turn over their e-mail or business records; information technologists facing a subpoena or discovery request for electronic documents; lawyers wanting to know how to identify and use electronically stored information (ESI) to either win or not lose a case; and members of the court who want to know how to evaluate arguments about e-discovery (costs and burdens), the admissibility of paperless evidence, and the truth that it reveals.

Anyone who needs a quick read to understand e-evidence and computer forensics will benefit from this book too. From our experience, those folks are the accused, crime victims, anyone facing discovery requests, and their lawyers.

About This Book

Computer Forensics For Dummies is an introduction to the exploding field of computer forensics and e-discovery. Computer forensics and e-evidence are important because the crime scene is where the evidence is — which makes computers and handheld devices qualify as crime scenes. So, more and more cases hinge on e-evidence.

We explain how your data gets recorded, how to find and recover data; and how lawyers try to use or refute that evidence to win their cases.

We explain — from the forensic point of view — what’s important and why it’s important. This nuts-and-bolts how-to guide shows you how to

  • Prepare for and conduct computer forensic investigations in actual practice.
  • Find out the current state of computer forensic methods, software, tools, and equipment that are generally accepted by law enforcement, the FBI, the courts, and regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
  • Conduct investigations according to generally accepted methods and avoid the risks of ignoring best practices.
  • View e-evidence and computer forensics from the trenches — from the up-close perspective of investigators who work with people, companies, agencies, and their lawyers on cases involving e-evidence.

How to Use This Book

Although all topics in Computer Forensics For Dummies are related, they’re distinct enough to fit into a modular format. You can use this book as a reference by going directly to the section related to your investigation or defense.

If you’re new to crime scenes and evidentiary issues, you should understand them before tackling the technical issues. Keep in mind that you get no do-overs with evidence. Mess with evidence and you no longer have any!

If you’re new to technical intricacies, you can explore how cybertrails are created and how to find them. Then move on to more advanced topics, such as identifying key search terms to locate relevant messages in response to an e-discovery request. You can find out how to dig up e-mail and documents that seemingly have been deleted, determine which Web sites a user visited, and find which key words were used to get there.

What You Don’t Need to Read

Depending on your background in law, criminal justice, investigative methods, or technology, you can skip the stuff you already know. If you’re the victim, the accused, the plaintiff, or the defendant, feel free to skip sections that don’t relate directly to your case or predicament.

Foolish Assumptions

We make a few assumptions about your interests, motives, and job requirements. As investigators, we’re hardwired to avoid preconceived notions about the crime and evidence. But, in this book, we assume that you fit one or several of these characteristics:

  • You understand basic computer concepts and terms, such as cookie and hard drive.
  • You use e-mail, the Internet, and other digital devices.
  • You have an interest in justice. (Or should we call it e-justice?)
  • You like detective work and solving mysteries.
  • You’re considering a career in computer forensics.
  • You’re concerned about your privacy and other civil rights.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into five parts. They’re modular so that you can zero in on any issues of immediate concern. The more you discover, the more you want to discover, so we’re sure that you’ll return to read other sections. (Don’t worry: The order in which you read this book doesn’t leave a trace — unless you send an e-mail or blog about it.)

Part I: Digging Out and Documenting Electronic Evidence

The book starts by introducing you to life in a digitally recorded world. You find out how digital devices create indelible records of what happened — and how logs of Internet activities accumulate into a sort of digital underworld. The focus in Part I is on how to dig out those records for use as evidence in a lawsuit or criminal investigation — to either prove guilt or defend against it. We help you understand relevant rules — rules of evidence, discovery, and civil and criminal procedure. You read about computer forensics tactics, documenting crime scenes, and getting authorization to search and seize.

Part II: Preparing to Crack the Case

This part details the legal loopholes to avoid to keep a tight forensic defense or that you should look for in your opponent’s methods to your advantage. We tell you how to pick cases to get involved in and those to walk away from. You see the technical side of forensics, including how to create a forensically sound image of a hard drive. Then you jump into the art of searching to find the e-evidence you need in order to prove the case or defend against it. To break through attempts to hide evidence from you, Part II also details password cracking.

Part III: Doing Computer Forensic Investigations

To find out how to start investigating e-mail and instant messages, data storage systems, documents, mobiles, networks, and unusual hiding places, ranging in size from pockets to homes, read Part II. You see how to re-create the past from the perspective of almost anything with digital pockets.

Part IV: Succeeding in Court

Your job as a computer forensic investigator doesn’t end when the e-evidence has been dug out, documented, and dissected. You memorized the laws of evidence and the rules of computer forensics to score a touchdown at trial. Now you need to survive Daubert (not to be confused with the cartoon character Dilbert) and defend your methods in court. Find out how to keep your cool in the court’s hot seat.

Part V: The Part of Tens

Every For Dummies book has The Part of Tens, and we give you three top-ten lists of items that everyone interested in computer forensics should know, do, and build. Find out how to qualify for a career in computer forensics, what to do to be an excellent investigator and expert witness, and how to build a forensic lab or toolkit.

Glossary

We include a complete minidictionary of technical and legal terms used throughout this book.

About the Web Site and Blog

We’re providing a place to blog with us for readers who are personally or professionally interested in technical and legal information about e-evidence and computer forensics. You can check out our blog at

http://cf4dummies.wordpress.com

You can find links to forensic software demos, documents, videos, and other digital goodies online. You can check out the Web site for this book at

www.dummies.com/go/computerforensics

Icons Used in This Book

Useful clues represented by icons highlight especially significant issues in this book. The following paragraphs (with their representative icons) give you an idea of what to expect when you see these icons.

Tip.eps Save yourself time and effort, and save somebody else money or grief. Computer forensics often involves high-stakes issues pitting determined adversaries against each other — ranging from megadollar civil cases to criminal cases of the worst kind. These icons flag paragraphs that can be goldmines of information.

acloserlook(computerforensics).eps Take an in-depth look at real-world cases and issues — both good and bad.

Warning(bomb).eps Computer forensic investigations can involve one booby trap after another — you’re never out of the woods. And, the land mines can explode your efforts. We flag the land mines with this icon to draw your attention to killer mistakes.

remember.eps We use this heads-up icon to flag certain concepts that you should keep in mind.

technicalstuff.eps Technology addicts may savor the technical details of digging into the depths of the unseen digital universe, but if you don’t like excruciating detail, move on.

Where to Go from Here

How many digital devices do you own that you didn’t own five years ago? Two years ago? How many features do your cell devices have now that they didn’t have five or two years ago? Do you wonder which devices you can’t live without that haven’t been developed yet? Your answers point to the inevitable growing scope of computer forensics. Certainly, computer forensics and all its specialty offshoots form an exciting field that this book helps you discover. Use it as a reference you turn to for advice, methods, and tactics about computers or the courts.

Part I

Digging Out and Documenting Electronic Evidence

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In this part . . .

This part covers the basic component of computer forensic investigations: finding electronic data, documents, or dirt to use as evidence. And we tell you in Chapter 1 not only how to find it but also how to ensure that it can be used to win or prevail in a legal action. Let’s face it: If you’re involved in a computer forensic mission, it’s not because you want to recover your lost vacation photos. For less money than you would pay for an investigation, you could redo the vacation and retake those photos. Computer forensics is more like the art of war — strategies and tactics to successfully navigate a tough environment, as you find out in Chapter 2.

In the first two chapters, you start to understand the number of ways in which your data and digital content get “out there,” how investigators find and recover e-evidence, and how lawyers use the evidence to win their cases. You’ll find out about technical issues and the dumb mistakes made by users trying to erase their tracks. Big Mistake #1 is thinking that the Delete key is the cyberequivalent of a paper shredder.

Mistakes stemming from delusions of grandeur can harm an investigation, as you read in Chapter 3. If you’re about to start an examination, you have to avoid Big Mistake #2 — jumping into an investigation without appreciating how fragile electronic data, and your posterior, are. Either one might get damaged if you don’t have the authority to proceed. Then in Chapter 4 you see strategies from the trenches for documenting and managing the scene of a crime.

The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.

— J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director (1924–1972)