Collecting Evidence

Abstract

Digital forensics is all about examining digital evidence, and that implies that you need to collect the evidence before it can be examined. Every action that you carry out on a computer will leave traces, and that contradicts with the facts that evidence must be handled in a way that ensures that it is not altered. This chapter discusses the key points of securing digital evidence in a forensically sound manner. Doing that ensures that the examination can be conducted in a way that does not contaminate the evidence. The concept of using a write blocker to create a forensic copy of the evidence is also introduced. The reminder of the chapter provides an in-depth discussion on live investigations, examining computers that are running. A model that can be used to plan forensically sound live investigations is presented as well as the constraints that must be taken into consideration when working with live evidence.