Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations Fourth Edition

Chapter 2 Understanding Computer Investigations

Objectives
Explain how to prepare a computer investigation Apply a systematic approach to an investigation Describe procedures for corporate high-tech investigations Explain requirements for data recovery workstations and software Describe how to conduct an investigation Explain how to complete and critique a case

Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations

Preparing a Computer Investigation

Role of computer forensics professional is to gather evidence to prove that a suspect committed a crime or violated a company policy Collect evidence that can be offered in court or at a corporate inquiry
Investigate the suspects computer Preserve the evidence on a different computer

Follow an accepted procedure to prepare a case Chain of custody

Route the evidence takes from the time you find it until the case is closed or goes to court
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An Overview of a Computer Crime

Computers can contain information that helps law enforcement determine:
Chain of events leading to a crime Evidence that can lead to a conviction

Law enforcement officers should follow proper procedure when acquiring the evidence
Digital evidence can be easily altered by an overeager investigator

Information on hard disks might be password protected

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An Overview of a Company Policy Violation

Employees misusing resources can cost companies millions of dollars Misuse includes:
Surfing the Internet Sending personal e-mails Using company computers for personal tasks

Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations

Taking a Systematic Approach

Steps for problem solving
Make an initial assessment about the type of case you are investigating Determine a preliminary design or approach to the case Create a detailed checklist Determine the resources you need Obtain and copy an evidence disk drive

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Taking a Systematic Approach (continued)

Steps for problem solving (continued)
Analyze and recover the digital evidence Investigate the data you recover Complete the case report Critique the case

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Assessing the Case

Systematically outline the case details
Situation Nature of the case Specifics of the case Type of evidence Operating system Known disk format Location of evidence

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Assessing the Case (continued)

Based on case details, you can determine the case requirements
Type of evidence Computer forensics tools Special operating systems

Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations

Planning Your Investigation

A basic investigation plan should include the following activities:
Acquire the evidence Complete an evidence form and establish a chain of custody Transport the evidence to a computer forensics lab Secure evidence in an approved secure container

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Planning Your Investigation (continued)

A basic investigation plan (continued):
Prepare a forensics workstation Obtain the evidence from the secure container Make a forensic copy of the evidence Return the evidence to the secure container Process the copied evidence with computer forensics tools

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Planning Your Investigation (continued)

An evidence custody form helps you document what has been done with the original evidence and its forensics copies Two types
Single-evidence form
Lists each piece of evidence on a separate page

Multi-evidence form

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Planning Your Investigation (continued)

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Planning Your Investigation (continued)

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Securing Your Evidence

Use evidence bags to secure and catalog the evidence Use computer safe products Antistatic bags Antistatic pads Use well padded containers Use evidence tape to seal all openings Floppy disk or CD drives Power supply electrical cord Write your initials on tape to prove that evidence has not been tampered with Consider computer specific temperature and humidity ranges
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Procedures for Corporate High-Tech Investigations

Develop formal procedures and informal checklists
To cover all issues important to high-tech investigations

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Employee Termination Cases

Majority of investigative work for termination cases involves employee abuse of corporate assets Internet abuse investigations
To conduct an investigation you need:
Organizations Internet proxy server logs Suspect computers IP address Suspect computers disk drive Your preferred computer forensics analysis tool

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Employee Termination Cases (continued)

Internet abuse investigations (continued)
Recommended steps
Use standard forensic analysis techniques and procedures Use appropriate tools to extract all Web page URL information Contact the network firewall administrator and request a proxy server log Compare the data recovered from forensic analysis to the proxy server log Continue analyzing the computers disk drive data
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Employee Termination Cases (continued)

E-mail abuse investigations
To conduct an investigation you need:
An electronic copy of the offending e-mail that contains message header data If available, e-mail server log records For e-mail systems that store users messages on a central server, access to the server Access to the computer so that you can perform a forensic analysis on it Your preferred computer forensics analysis tool

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Employee Termination Cases (continued)

E-mail abuse investigations (continued)
Recommended steps
Use the standard forensic analysis techniques Obtain an electronic copy of the suspects and victims e-mail folder or data For Web-based e-mail investigations, use tools such as FTKs Internet Keyword Search option to extract all related e-mail address information Examine header data of all messages of interest to the investigation

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Attorney-Client Privilege Investigations

Under attorney-client privilege (ACP) rules for an attorney
You must keep all findings confidential

Many attorneys like to have printouts of the data you have recovered
You need to persuade and educate many attorneys on how digital evidence can be viewed electronically

You can also encounter problems if you find data in the form of binary files
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Attorney-Client Privilege Investigations (continued)

Steps for conducting an ACP case
Request a memorandum from the attorney directing you to start the investigation Request a list of keywords of interest to the investigation Initiate the investigation and analysis For disk drive examinations, make two bit-stream images using different tools Compare hash signatures on all files on the original and re-created disks
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Attorney-Client Privilege Investigations (continued)

Steps for conducting an ACP case (continued)
Methodically examine every portion of the disk drive and extract all data Run keyword searches on allocated and unallocated disk space For Windows OSs, use specialty tools to analyze and extract data from the Registry For binary data files such as CAD drawings, locate the correct software product For unallocated data recovery, use a tool that removes or replaces nonprintable data
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Attorney-Client Privilege Investigations (continued)

Steps for conducting an ACP case (continued)
Consolidate all recovered data from the evidence bitstream image into folders and subfolders

Other guidelines
Minimize written communications with the attorney Any documentation written to the attorney must contain a header stating that its Privileged Legal CommunicationConfidential Work Product

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Attorney-Client Privilege Investigations (continued)

Other guidelines (continued)
Assist attorney and paralegal in analyzing the data

If you have difficulty complying with the directions

Contact the attorney and explain the problem

Always keep an open line of verbal communication If youre communicating via e-mail, use encryption

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Media Leak Investigations

In the corporate environment, controlling sensitive data can be difficult Consider the following for media leak investigations
Examine e-mail Examine Internet message boards Examine proxy server logs Examine known suspects workstations Examine all company telephone records

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Media Leak Investigations (consider)

Steps to take for media leaks
Interview management privately
To get a list of employees who have direct knowledge of the sensitive data

Identify media source that published the information Review company phone records Obtain a list of keywords related to the media leak Perform keyword searches on proxy and e-mail servers

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Media Leak Investigations (consider)

Steps to take for media leaks (continued)
Discreetly conduct forensic disk acquisitions and analysis From the forensic disk examinations, analyze all email correspondence
And trace any sensitive messages to other people

Expand the discreet forensic disk acquisition and analysis Consolidate and review your findings periodically Routinely report findings to management
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Industrial Espionage Investigations

All suspected industrial espionage cases should be treated as criminal investigations Staff needed
Computing investigator who is responsible for disk forensic examinations Technology specialist who is knowledgeable of the suspected compromised technical data Network specialist who can perform log analysis and set up network sniffers Threat assessment specialist (typically an attorney)
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Industrial Espionage Investigations (continued)

Guidelines
Determine whether this investigation involves a possible industrial espionage incident Consult with corporate attorneys and upper management Determine what information is needed to substantiate the allegation Generate a list of keywords for disk forensics and sniffer monitoring List and collect resources for the investigation
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Industrial Espionage Investigations (continued)

Guidelines (continued)
Determine goal and scope of the investigation Initiate investigation after approval from management

Planning considerations
Examine all e-mail of suspected employees Search Internet newsgroups or message boards Initiate physical surveillance Examine facility physical access logs for sensitive areas
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Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations

Industrial Espionage Investigations (continued)

Planning considerations (continued)
Determine suspect location in relation to the vulnerable asset Study the suspects work habits Collect all incoming and outgoing phone logs

Steps
Gather all personnel assigned to the investigation and brief them on the plan Gather resources to conduct the investigation

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Industrial Espionage Investigations (continued)

Steps (continued)
Place surveillance systems Discreetly gather any additional evidence Collect all log data from networks and e-mail servers Report regularly to management and corporate attorneys Review the investigations scope with management and corporate attorneys

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Interviews and Interrogations in HighTech Investigations

Becoming a skilled interviewer and interrogator can take many years of experience Interview
Usually conducted to collect information from a witness or suspect
About specific facts related to an investigation

Interrogation
Trying to get a suspect to confess

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Interviews and Interrogations in HighTech Investigations (continued)

Role as a computing investigator
To instruct the investigator conducting the interview on what questions to ask
And what the answers should be

Ingredients for a successful interview or interrogation

Being patient throughout the session Repeating or rephrasing questions to zero in on specific facts from a reluctant witness or suspect Being tenacious
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Understanding Data Recovery Workstations and Software

Investigations are conducted on a computer forensics lab (or data-recovery lab) Computer forensics and data-recovery are related but different Computer forensics workstation
Specially configured personal computer Loaded with additional bays and forensics software

To avoid altering the evidence use:

Forensics boot floppy disk Write-blockers devices
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Setting Up your Computer for Computer Forensics

Basic requirements
A workstation running Windows XP or Vista A write-blocker device Computer forensics acquisition tool Computer forensics analysis tool Target drive to receive the source or suspect disk data Spare PATA or SATA ports USB ports
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Setting Up your Computer for Computer Forensics (continued)

Additional useful items
Network interface card (NIC) Extra USB ports FireWire 400/800 ports SCSI card Disk editor tool Text editor tool Graphics viewer program Other specialized viewing tools
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Guide to Computer Forensics and Investigations

Conducting an Investigation
Gather resources identified in investigation plan Items needed
Original storage media Evidence custody form Evidence container for the storage media Bit-stream imaging tool Forensic workstation to copy and examine your evidence Securable evidence locker, cabinet, or safe

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Gathering the Evidence

Avoid damaging the evidence Steps
Meet the IT manager to interview him Fill out the evidence form, have the IT manager sign Place the evidence in a secure container Complete the evidence custody form Carry the evidence to the computer forensics lab Create forensics copies (if possible) Secure evidence by locking the container

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Understanding Bit-Stream Copies

Bit-stream copy
Bit-by-bit copy of the original storage medium Exact copy of the original disk Different from a simple backup copy Backup software only copy known files Backup software cannot copy deleted files, e-mail messages or recover file fragments

Bit-stream image
File containing the bit-stream copy of all data on a disk or partition Also known as forensic copy
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Understanding Bit-stream Copies (continued)

Copy image file to a target disk that matches the original disks manufacturer, size and model

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Acquiring an Image of Evidence Media

First rule of computer forensics
Preserve the original evidence

Conduct your analysis only on a copy of the data Using ProDiscover Basic to acquire a thumb drive
Create a work folder for data storage Steps
On the thumb drive locate the write-protect switch and place the drive in write-protect mode Start ProDiscover Basic

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Analyzing Your Digital Evidence

Your job is to recover data from:
Deleted files File fragments Complete files

Deleted files linger on the disk until new data is saved on the same physical location Tool
ProDiscover Basic

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Analyzing Your Digital Evidence (continued)

With ProDiscover Basic you can:
Search for keywords of interest in the case Display the results in a search results window Click each file in the search results window and examine its content in the data area Export the data to a folder of your choice Search for specific filenames Generate a report of your activities

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Completing the Case

You need to produce a final report
State what you did and what you found

Include ProDiscover report to document your work Repeatable findings

Repeat the steps and produce the same result

If required, use a report template Report should show conclusive evidence

Suspect did or did not commit a crime or violate a company policy

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Critiquing the Case

How could you improve your performance in the case? Did you expect the results you found? Did the case develop in ways you did not expect? Was the documentation as thorough as it could have been? What feedback was been received from the requesting source? Did you discover new problems? If so, what are they? Did you use new techniques during the case or during research?
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Summary
Always use a systematic approach to your investigations Always plan a case taking into account the nature of the case, case requirements, and gathering evidence techniques Both criminal cases and corporate-policy violations can go to court Plan for contingencies for any problems you might encounter Keep track of the chain of custody of your evidence
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Summary (continued)
Internet and media leak investigations require examining server log data For attorney-client privilege cases, all written communication should remain confidential A bit-stream copy is a bit-by-bit duplicate of the original disk Always maintain a journal to keep notes on exactly what you did You should always critique your own work

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