#12 Cyber Detectives: Digital Forensics

Hello there lovely people!! Welcome back to another episode of STEM on the Streets! If you are new here, my name is Aiza and this is my partner CAI, together we explore the criminal streets of STEM. Click the button to read the previous episode!

Introduction

Today marks the beginning of a new topic in forensics: digital forensics. If you like or have a knack for tech, this is for you! Digital forensics is mainly used to investigate cyber crimes however, it can be used in other non-cyber crimes as well.

Digital forensics involves identifying, acquiring, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence, playing a crucial role in investigating cybercrimes, data breaches, and other incidents involving digital devices and networks.

What is the Importance of Digital Forensics?

In a world in which technology has become a big part of our lives, and shall only increase to do so, new crime opportunities have opened up.

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: Oppurtunities?

Yes, opportunities... for some.

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: Are you part of 'some'?

That is very bold of you to assume that I am into breaking legal laws. When I say I like crime, I don't mean committing it, I mean I like listening about it.

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: Fair enough.

Now where was I?

Digital forensics is crucial in solving crimes and legal issues by analyzing digital evidence from various devices. It plays a major role in investigating data theft, network breaches, online fraud, violent crimes, and white-collar crimes. Organizations utilize digital forensics to manage cybersecurity and physical security incidents effectively. Digital forensics organizations must centrally manage logs and digital evidence, ensure retention and protect them from tampering or loss.

✿◡‿◡)CAI: Digital forensics is a crucial tool used to understand how a breach occurred and identify the attackers. It also helps in assessing the impact of the breach on organizations and their customers. Additionally, digital forensics plays a key role in capturing digital evidence from mobile phones, cars, or other devices in the vicinity of the crime, as well as collecting evidence that can aid in the identification and prosecution of crimes such as corporate fraud, embezzlement, and extortion.

Branches of Digital Forensic

There are five main branches of digital forensics:

1. Computer Forensics

2. Mobile Device Forensics

3. Network Forensics

4. Forensic Data

5. Analysis Database Forensics

CAI would you like to take from here?

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: Yeah sure!

Computer Forensics

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: Computer forensics, also known as computer forensic science, is the investigation of computers and digital storage evidence. It encompasses the examination of digital data to recognize, preserve, retrieve, analyze, and present information and opinions related to the investigated data.

This field shares similarities with data recovery but also involves additional procedures and standards aimed at establishing a legal audit trail with a clearly defined chain of custody.

Mobile Device Forensics

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: The field of mobile device forensics is primarily concerned with the retrieval of digital evidence from devices with internal memory and communication capabilities. This includes the investigation of various devices like mobile phones, PDA devices, tablets, and GPS devices.

Network Forensics

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: The field of network forensics involves monitoring, recording, and examining network activities. Network data is constantly changing and once it has been transmitted, it cannot be retrieved, making network forensics primarily a proactive investigative process.

Forensic Data Analysis

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: An important area of digital forensics, forensic data analysis (FDA) involves the examination of structured data typically located in application systems and databases, specifically in relation to financial crime. The main goal of the FDA is to identify and scrutinize patterns of fraudulent behaviour.

Database Forensics

Hey, CAI, can I do this one?

(✿◡‿◡)CAI: I mean like, yeah sure.

Thanks, CAI!

When it comes to database forensics, it's all about investigating who's been accessing your databases and keeping track of any changes made to the data. This can be super useful for catching any fishy business, like spotting fraudulent database transactions.

Another cool way to use database forensics is to look at the timestamps that show when a specific row in your database was last updated. It's like giving your database a check-up to make sure everything's working as it should and to see exactly what a particular user has been up to.

That is all for today folks and thank you for reading! Stay tuned for the next episode!

This is Aiza Jamil signing out!

I am a forensics sleuth, what is your mystery to solve?

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