I can hear it now! You are letting the cat out of the bag. By explaining computer forensic reports, you are aiding and helping computer criminals to cover their tracks.
But, there is always another side to an argument. By releasing this information, it can help people help computer forensic experts catch the criminals. Besides, people who commit computer crimes are very good at what they do. I am not releasing anything here they may not already know.
With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
What makes up computer forensics reports? Where does the information come from? Who puts them together?
Let’s start with the Who.
Computer forensics reports are prepared by computer forensics investigators. They gather the necessary information, analyze them and then draft out the final computer forensics reports. As good as they are, computer criminals oftentimes leave behind clues which aid the investigators to track down the root cause of their crime.
Even when the files have been deleted from the specific location in the computer, the original data is not at all erased from the entire computer system. With certain techniques, tools, and skills that the investigators are equipped with, the analysis of the fraudulent act or crime can be made with such accuracy.
Where does the computer forensic report information come from?
There are four main areas where the investigators gather their evidence from. There are other areas which are looked into but the following are the most commonly looked areas.
1. The Saved Files:
These are easy. If you saved it, it’s in the computer forensics. All the investigator needs to do is open them up to examine them. They don’t need anything special to view or examine them.
2. The Deleted Files:
When data is deleted, it is put in the trash bin. The computer forensic expert will look in the bin to see what is in it.
The tougher part is the deleted files that have also been deleted from the trash bin. These will require special software in order to restore them.
3. The Temporary Files:
These data are produced when one browses through the Internet, works on any document, and uses some other types of backup software and other installations and applications.
You can open some temporary files on the computer they reside on without any special software or tool. Others will require the use of special tool or software.
4. The Meta Data:
The Meta data gives you the details of a document or file. Among the details which appear include the date that such files had been created, modified, and the last time when it was accessed. You can even get information about the creator of the file.
What makes up computer forensics reports?
Computer forensic reports will be made of information from the above four sources. It will also include information gathered from e-mails, file transfers, web browsing, online accounts, charts, and internet searches. Unknown to some people is that their web searches can be retraced.
