Cybercriminals are everywhere and seem to be getting more aggressive recently. They patiently sit in the corner and wait for the moment of vulnerability to launch an attack. If they’re successful, hackers can lay waste to any company or government institution, which typically involves stealing your data and disrupting your operations. That's why Perth organisations must proactively invest in robust cyber security services to stay ahead of these threats.
Fortunately, companies and government institutions now have the means to fight cyber criminals and bring them to justice due to their illegal actions. And you can also do that with the help of digital forensics.
What is digital forensics?
When you hear the word “forensics,” you’re probably thinking of CSI or NCIS or maybe even Dexter.
But did you know forensic science has other facets beyond crime scenes and murder weapons?
There is another form of forensics that looks into computer and mobile devices, online activities, software and anything that involves digital computing. Although they look harmless at first glance, they hold tremendous amounts of data that can track and implicate criminals.
Like criminal forensics, digital forensics helps you examine cybercrimes, find the suspect(s) responsible, and prevent them from happening.
Digital forensics is the extraction and investigation of digital data from electronic devices. It is an essential component of cyber security that allows investigators to collect evidence from computer systems, networks, and other digital devices. This forensic technique aims to identify, preserve, recover, study and present relevant information related to cyber crimes.
From a business perspective, you would typically include digital forensics in the incident response process wherein the investigator (highly trained professional with a deep understanding of both technology and legal procedures) collects details of the incident to find out who was responsible for the attack or identify evidence to use in a court of law.
What digital forensics can do for you?
Digital forensics, at its core, involves collecting, investigating, and preserving electronic data to gain valuable insights into your operations and identify possible security threats before they cause actual damage to your systems.
You can use digital forensics for criminal and private investigations since it can uncover hidden information that might not be readily apparent. For example, by inspecting email logs or internet browsing history, investigators can construct a timeline of an individual’s activity and determine whether any suspicious activity occurs. Digital forensics can also investigate malware infections, trace communications and track down stolen data.
This information can be critical in legal proceedings, internal investigations within the company, or cases where assets are accidentally deleted or intentionally destroyed by malicious actors.
Digital forensics process
Identification
Identification is the first step in the digital forensics process that involves analysing digital and physical evidence to determine its source, content, and significance. This process typically requires tools and techniques to find potential evidence on a device or system and decide which is the most relevant to the case.
Collection
The collection is an essential component in the digital forensics process that helps investigators identify potential sources of evidence and preserve them for analysis. This process involves obtaining data from various sources, such as computers, mobile devices, and network systems. Then, the collected evidence will be preserved and investigated carefully, with any findings documented for legal use.
Analysis
Analysis is essential in determining whether electronic data has been altered or deleted. Its main objective is to identify abnormal behaviour that may indicate malicious activity. This process may include identifying malware infections, tracking illegal access attempts, and assessing damage to various electronic devices to preserve and analyse evidence to use in legal proceedings.
Documentation
Documentation in digital forensics involves creating detailed reports documenting evidence collection, analysis, and interpretation. This process is crucial because it helps investigators maintain an accurate record of their findings – providing transparency and accountability throughout the investigation.
Presentation
Presentation in the digital forensics process involves compiling all data collected during the investigation and presenting it as evidence. Just as a lawyer must present their case in court, a digital forensic examiner must effectively present their findings clearly and concisely.
By doing so, investigators can better understand the complex relationships between different pieces of evidence and draw more accurate conclusions. This process often involves using specialised software that allows investigators to visualise data in new ways.
Types of digital forensics
Mobile forensics
Mobile forensics is a branch of digital forensics that investigates and recovers evidence from mobile devices. It’s gained more prominence in recent years due to the widespread use of mobile phones across industries.
Mobile forensics includes extracting, preserving, and examining data from mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other portable electronic devices. The process will require specialised tools allowing digital forensics experts to extract data from mobile devices without altering or damaging it – which consists of call logs, text messages, emails, and media received, installed or taken by a camera app like Facebook Messenger or Viber.
You can also use mobile forensics to recover deleted files and analyse internet activity on a device, including websites visited and search queries made on popular search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing.
Digital forensic experts use many tools and methods to gather data from mobile devices. They do this to analyse and compile a timeline of events to determine the actions taken on the device and its repercussions. This heavy task requires expertise and comprehensive training to provide law enforcement agencies with the vital evidence to prosecute criminals.
Computer forensics
Computer forensics is a branch of digital forensics that collects, investigates, analyses, and preserves electronic data to investigate a computer-related crime.
Companies do computer forensics because it can uncover digital evidence that you can use in legal proceedings. This process can include recovering deleted files, analysing network traffic, or tracing unauthorised access attempts.
Computer forensics is similar to data recovery but with extra steps. Data recovery only focuses on retrieving lost, corrupted, deleted, or lost data. Computer forensics, on the other hand, includes processes investigating the incident down to its source.
Software forensics
Software forensics is a branch of digital forensics that investigates source code to find usage information, potential security issues, and anomalies. This process will involve examining source codes, configuration files, and system logs and gathering evidence from these sources.
As more businesses adapt to digital technologies, the increased risk of cyber-attacks goes along with it. Software forensics will help you identify vulnerabilities in your systems that criminals could use to carry out illegal activities like hacking, identity theft, intellectual property fraud, and fraud.
Network forensics
Network forensics is a branch of digital forensics that aims to identify the source and cause of an attack on a computer network.
Like the other branches, it also aims to identify and analyse all traffic coming in and out of the network to collect evidence for criminal investigations. But they do it by capturing packets or units of data as they pass through a network, reconstructing them into meaningful data and analysing them to use for evidence. This process will help your IT team determine what happened during an incident, where and how it occurred, and who was involved. It will also provide valuable insights into the hacking methods to prevent future attacks.
Database forensics
Database forensics is a subfield of digital forensics that investigates access and information stored in databases and reports changes made within the file systems.
Database forensics, and other branches of digital forensics, can be used for other purposes besides capturing criminals. For example, it's a great way of finding vulnerabilities in the database before criminals can find them. And this process can look into data from financial records to personal information like credit card details or social security numbers. By analysing these databases, you and your team can identify patterns, trace suspicious transactions, and gain valuable insights into how criminals can illegally access your sensitive data.
Email forensics
Email forensics is a subset of digital forensics that recovers and analyses emails, contacts, and calendars. It involves collecting, preserving, and examining electronic data that you can use as evidence in legal proceedings. Email forensic experts analyse email messages to determine their authenticity, source, and content. They also track the routes taken by an email from sender to recipient.
Email forensics plays a critical role in modern-day investigations because many crimes get sent through electronic communication devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Malware forensics
Malware forensics is a branch of digital forensics investigating malicious code in your device or network. The goal is to identify the source, nature, and extent of damage caused by malicious software.
The study of malware forensics involves techniques and tools to analyse malware code and determine its behaviour. This digital forensic includes static analysis, which examines the structure and content of code without running it; dynamic analysis - which observes how malware behaves when running in a controlled environment; and memory analysis which analyses data stored in RAM during an attack. Additionally, reverse engineering can decipher encrypted code used by malware creators.
Improve your cyber security with Office Solutions IT
Cyber security is more important than ever. With the increasing amount of sensitive information stored and transmitted online, ensure that your digital assets are adequately protected. That's where Office Solutions IT comes in. As a leading provider of cyber security solutions, we offer services to help you improve your overall security posture.
One of our key areas of expertise is digital forensics. Our team of experts has years of experience conducting comprehensive investigations into cyber attacks and data breaches. By using advanced tools and techniques, we can identify the source and scope of an attack and provide recommendations for preventing similar incidents from happening in the future. Whether you need help with an incident response or proactive threat hunting, our digital forensics services can help you stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
