Introduction to Cyber Forensic Tools
“Cyber Forensic Tools” are important for looking into digital evidence. They help experts find important information on devices like computers and phones. These tools are needed to solve cybersecurity, help with legal cases, and keep digital information safe in different industries.
Digital forensics is a broad field and there are many tools for analysis or investigation like:
- MailXaminer [As the name suggests, MailXaminer is used to perform email analysis. It can examine emails from both web and application based mail clients.]
- FTK [FTK or Forensic toolkit is used to scan the hard drive and look for evidence.]
- EnCase [Encase is a multipurpose forensic investigation tool. It can help forensic investigators across the investigation life cycle]
- Autopsy [Autopsy is an open source digital forensic software, it is used for conducting hard drive investigations. It is used by various law enforcement agencies, military and government and corporate investigators to conduct digital investigations.]
- Oxygen Forensics [Oxygen Forensic Suite is used to gather digital evidence from mobile phones and cloud services used on phones. The suite can bypass Android screen lock, get location history, extract data from cloud storages, analyze call and data records, search data keywords, recover deleted data and export data to various file formats. It supports various mobile platforms including Android, Sony, Blackberry and iPhone.]
Digital forensic is a process of preservation, identification, extraction, and documentation of computer evidence which can be used by the court of law. There are many tools that help you to make this process simple and easy. These applications provide complete reports that can be used for legal procedures.
Cyber forensics software comes in many categories, so the exact choice of tool depends on where and how you want to use it. Here are some broad categories to give you an idea of the variety that comes under the umbrella of digital forensics tools:
- Database forensics
- Email analysis
- Audio/video forensics
- Internet browsing analysis
- Network forensics
- Memory forensics
- File analysis
- Disk and data capture
- Computer forensics
- Digital image forensics
While this is not an exhaustive list, it gives you a picture of what constitutes digital forensics tools and what you can do with them. Sometimes multiple tools are packaged together into a single toolkit to help you tap into the potential of related tools.
Also, it is important to note that these categories can get blurred at times depending on the skill set of the staff, the lab conditions, availability of equipment, existing laws, and contractual obligations. For example, tablets without SIM cards are considered to be computers, so they would need computer forensics tools and not mobile forensics tools.
But regardless of these variations, what is important is that digital forensics tools offer a vast amount of possibilities to gain information during an investigation. It is also important to note that the landscape of digital forensics is highly dynamic with new tools and features being released regularly to keep up with the constant updates of devices.
Choosing the right tool
Given the many options, it is not easy to select the right tool that will fit your needs. Here are some aspects to consider while making the decision.
Skill level
Skill level is an important factor when selecting a digital forensics tool. Some tools only need a basic skill set while others may require advanced knowledge. A good rule of thumb is to assess the skills you have versus what the tool requires, so you can choose the most powerful tool that you have the competence to operate.
Output
Tools are not built the same, so even within the same category, outputs will vary. Some tools will return just raw data while others will output a complete report that can be instantly shared with non-technical staff. In some cases, raw data alone is enough as your information may anyway have to go through more processing, while in others, having a formatted report can make your job easier.
Cost
Needless to say, the cost is an important factor as most departments have budgetary constraints. One aspect to keep in mind here – the cheapest tools may not have all the features you want as that’s how developers keep the costs low. Instead of choosing a tool based on cost alone, consider striking a balance between cost and features while making your choice.
Focus
Another key aspect is the focus area of the tool, since different tasks usually require different tools. For example, tools for examining a database are very different from those needed to examine a network. The best practice is to create a complete list of feature requirements before buying. As mentioned before, some tools can cover multiple functionality in a single kit which could be a better deal than finding separate tools for every task.
