Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science focused on the recovery and investigation of material found in digital devices and cybercrimes.
Digital forensics was originally used as a synonym for computer forensics but has expanded to cover the investigation of all devices that store digital data.
The need for experts in the field of digital forensics has never been greater. As society increases reliance on computer systems and cloud computing, digital forensics has become a crucial aspect of law enforcement agencies and businesses.
Digital forensics is concerned with the identification, preservation, examination and analysis of digital evidence, using scientifically accepted and validated processes, to be used in and outside of a court of law.
Today, the technical aspect of an investigation is divided into five branches that encompass the seizure, forensic imaging and analysis of digital media.
The most common use of digital forensics is to support or refute a hypothesis in a criminal or civil court:
- Criminal cases: Involve the alleged breaking of laws and law enforcement agencies and their digital forensic examiners.
- Civil cases: Involve the protection of rights and property of individuals or contractual disputes between commercial entities where a form of digital forensics called electronic discovery (eDiscovery) may be involved.
One particularly fast growing area of digital forensics is computer forensics with its myriad of benefits such as its ability to reduce or even eliminate sampling risk.
Other benefits include the comparison of relevant types of data from different systems or sources to show a more complete picture, as well as the ability to easily trend relevant data over periods of time. Fluctuations in trending lines can be analyzed further for false positives and potential risk factors.
Computer forensics has also come to the forefront in the quick identification and extraction of certain risk criteria from the entire data population for further analysis.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Digital Forensics Training Bootcamp, an intense 2-day course designed to train digital forensics examiners, analysts and fraud investigators. Students are taught electronic discovery and advanced digital forensic techniques. This course is essential to anyone encountering digital forensic and evidence while conducting an investigation.
Additionally, Tonex offers nearly 400 classes, seminars and workshops in close to four dozen categories of systems engineering training.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.