5 Tools Used in Digital Forensic Labs You Should Know About

Digital forensics tools will constitute many alternative classes, a number of that embrace info forensics, disk and data capture, email analysis, file analysis, file viewers, internet analysis, mobile device analysis, network forensics, and registry analysis. several tools fulfil over one operation at the same time, and a major trend in digital forensics tools are “wrappers”—one that packages many specific technologies with totally different functionalities into one overarching toolkit.

New tools are developed on a daily basis, each as elite government-sponsored solutions and basement hacker rigs. The direction for each is a bit different. a number of these transcend easy searches for files or pictures, and dig into the arena of cybersecurity, requiring network analysis or cyber threat assessment. when there’s a tool for everything, the foremost pressing question is which one to use.

I have mentioned some best tools used in the Digital forensics and cybersecurity Industry.

Wireshark

Wireshark is a free and open-source packet analyzer. it’s used for network troubleshooting, analysis, code and protocol development, and education. Originally called Ethereal, Wireshark displays data from many different protocols on all major network varieties. data packets are often viewed in real-time or analyzed offline. Wireshark supports dozens of capture/trace file formats, as well as CAP and ERF. Integrated decipherment tools show the encrypted packets for many common protocols, as well as WEP and WPA/WPA2.

After downloading and installing Wireshark, you’ll be able to launch it and double-click the name of a network interface beneath Capture to start out capturing packets on that interface. For instance, if you wish to capture traffic on your wireless network, click your wireless interface. You’ll be able to set up advanced features by clicking Capture > options, however, this isn’t necessary for now.

Installation

Wireshark can be downloaded at no price from the Wireshark Foundation web site for each macOS and Windows. you will see the newest stable release and the current developmental release. Unless you are a sophisticated user, download the stable version.

If you are a kali user, then Wireshark comes pre-installed with Kali Linux and other Linux distros as well which are used for network analysis and security.

 

Autopsy: Digital Forensics Tool

An autopsy is the graphical user interface (GUI) employed in The Sleuth Kit to make it less complicated to work, automating several of the procedures, and then easier to spot, sort and catalogue pertinent items of forensic data. As the name implies, The Sleuth Kit and assortment of command lines and a C library—allows users to gather, dissect and analyse forensic data on computer systems and mobile phones. The web site claims that the system will even recover photos from your camera. Layering a user interface over text-based and command-line interfaces may not appeal to purists who love their simplicity, however, Autopsy permits ease of use people who grew up with user interface interfaces can appreciate.

 

 

Installation

Autopsy and The Sleuth Kit are a quick and simple download and contain wizards that facilitate sleek installation. The Sleuth Kit is complete upon installation, however, users may write and add their own modules in Java or Python. Bother writing a module? No worries. the web site conjointly offers coaching how-to’s for individual modules the user might wish to feature as a plug-in to the system. That means penultimate management and customization, that also suggests an additional layer of security for people who build their own.

 

ExifTool

This is maybe one of the foremost powerful Exif editors. Runs on both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX, ExifTool is a powerful editor that reads, writes and edit meta info in an exceedingly wide range of files.

ExifTool supports many various information formats as well as EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, additionally the maker notes of the many digital cameras by Canon, Casio, FLIR, FujiFilm, GE, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Nikon, Olympus/Epson, Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Phase One, Reconyx, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon and Sony.

You may have encounter ExifTool while checking out an image recovery software. Well, ExifTool does more than that. It is an open-source computer programme for reading, modifying, and manipulating pictures, videos, audios and PDF metadata. Metadata is the additional data added to multimedia files. For instance, the metadata of images is the additional data just like the name of the device, the resolution of the image, the location the image was taken at, the date of capture and modification and a lot more.

 

 

Installation

Windows Installation

In Windows, there’s an alternative of two totally different versions of ExifTool to install. The Perl distribution needs Perl to be installed on your system. (A fresh, free Perl interpreter will be downloaded from activeperl.com.)

If you do not have already got Perl, it’s easier to put in the stand-alone ExifTool executable, however, note that the complete version does not embody the markup language documentation or some other files of the full distribution.

Mac OS Installation:

If you have got installed the BSDSDK package from the Xcode Developer Tools, you must follow the install procedure for Unix platforms in a subsequent section. The Unix install has the advantage of creating the ExifTool library accessible for your Perl scripts, as well as installing the man pages and POD documentation.

Otherwise, you have got an alternative of 2 packages to install: The OS X package, or the complete Perl distribution.

 

Volatility

Volatility is one of the most effective open-source software package programs for analyzing RAM in 32 bit/64 bit systems. It supports analysis for Linux, Windows, Mac, and Android systems. it is based on Python and is also used to run on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh systems. It will analyze raw dumps, crash dumps, VMware dumps (.vmem), virtual box dumps, and lots of others

If the live acquisition is done for a chunk of evidence, a picture of the volatile memory will hold numerous clues which will facilitate an investigation, for instance: passwords, services, network activity, processes, etc. Each of these is acquired from live memory.

In another instance, after an incident, volatility is used to uncover the cause. It consists of plugins that allow you to sift through the primary storage and pinpoint suspicious processes which may have been running at the time of the incident or might have led up to that.

 

 

Installation

The Volatility software may be downloaded from the official website :

https://www.volatilityfoundation.org/

It also comes pre-installed with Backtrack 5 R3, which I am presently using.

 

EnCase Enterprise

EnCase® forensic, the industry-standard computer investigation solution, is for forensic practitioners who ought to conduct efficient, forensically sound data assortment and investigations employing a repeatable and invulnerable method. The proven, powerful, and trustworthy EnCase® forensic solution, lets examiners acquire information from a wide range of devices, unearth potential evidence with disk-level forensic analysis, and craft comprehensive reports on their findings, all while maintaining the integrity of their evidence

EnCase has been involved within the digital forensic investigations of many high profile homicide cases with investigators for each the prosecution and defence usually debating the conclusions of the opposite.

In 2002, David Westerfield’s defence used encase to look at the defendant’s disks and computers for proof of child pornography. Though their interpretation was controversial, they did prove that pornographic content was accessed at the time the suspect was undergoing a police interrogation adding weight to their suggestion that it was really Westerfield’s son who was accessing the content (thus denying the prosecution the ‘smoking gun’ of a motive for the kidnapping and murder of a child). Westerfield was eventually condemned of the murder and is presently on death row.

 

 

These were the 5 important tools used by Digital forensic experts worldwide and I’ve also been using these tool to conduct investigations for corporates. Thanks for reading and do subscribe to our newsletter for timely updates on the latest articles.