Digital forensics

About this free course

This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course M812 Digital forensics www.
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Contents
Introduction 4
Learning Outcomes 5
1 What is digital forensics? 6
2 What is forensic science? 7
2.1 Science, the scientific method and scientific laws 7
2.2 Forensic scientists 9
2.3 Case study: The Shirley McKie story 15
2.4 Summary of Section 2 17
3 The role of the forensic scientist in law 18
3.1 Legal decision-making 18
3.2 The role of the court 19
3.3 Contrasting scientific conclusions with court judgments 20
3.4 Summary of Section 3 21
4 The role of digital forensics 22
4.1 The digital forensic process 22
4.2 A brief history of digital forensics 23
4.3 Different types of digital forensics 24
4.4 Summary of Section 4 26
5 Conclusion 27
Keep on learning 28
References 29
Acknowledgements 29

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Introduction

Introduction
This free course, Digital forensics, is an introduction to computer forensics and
investigation, and will give you an overview of forensic science in general, including how it
works in practice. It will introduce you to the world of digital forensics, that is, applying
forensic science to the digital artefacts that we create every day through our interactions
with computers, mobile phones and the unseen objects around us that encompass the so-
called ‘internet of things’.
This OpenLearn course provides a sample of postgraduate study in Maths.

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Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
● explain the origins of forensic science
● explain the difference between scientific conclusions and legal decision-making
● explain the role of digital forensics and the relationship of digital forensics to traditional forensic science,
traditional science and the appropriate use of scientific methods
● outline a range of situations where digital forensics may be applicable
● identify and explain at least three current issues in the practice of digital forensic investigations.
1 What is digital forensics?

1 What is digital forensics?

Digital forensics is an exciting area, often glamorised (and its capabilities exaggerated) in
films and television shows like CSI, NCIS and Spooks. You may have heard the area
described using slightly different words, each of which may bring to mind different
activities.

Activity 1
(Allow 10 minutes)

Let’s get started with a simple activity. Write down all the topics that you can think of
that might be encompassed by the term ‘digital forensics and investigations’.
Discussion
Here are some of the names I thought of; your list should include at least some of
these:

● computer forensics
● forensic computing
● forensic science
● network forensics
● ICT forensics
● forensic investigations
● digital investigations
● business continuity
● incident response
● computer policing
● high-tech crime investigation
● computer security
● incident management
● cloud security.

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2 What is forensic science?

At first sight, the answer to this question seems straightforward. The Higher Education
Academy offers the following definition:

Forensic science is the application of science to matters of law.

(Higher Education Academy, 2010)

A more careful examination, however, yields some extremely important insights. The
‘science’ part alludes to scientific method and how it might apply both generally and in
terms of a specific investigation. The ‘forensic’ element refers to how courts make their
decisions. One of the most important lessons is that forensic scientists acting as
witnesses are not allowed to usurp the authority and role of the court in reaching its
decision. As we will see later, this has a considerable impact on how forensic scientists go
about their business, how they write reports for court use, and how they give evidence.
Scientific fact-finding and decision-making are very different to legal fact-finding and
decision-making. You need to know the difference, not just because it is an interesting
area to think about, but also because it goes to the heart of how forensic investigators
generate evidence for use in court. The cultures and expectations of each are different, as
is their impact and how each is likely to affect the lives of others.
You need to begin by considering what is meant by science and the scientific method, and
then see how it operates within the domain of forensic science.

2.1 Science, the scientific method and scientific

laws
The aim of science is to make order out of chaos by producing explanations for what we
see around us. These explanations come in the form of rules or laws, which we hope,
once described, are universally true. For example, objects of whatever weight, dropped
from a tower or other high point, will always fall at the same rate (assuming the same air
resistance) – and that rate can be described by a scientific formula. We can also say that
this is part of a more general phenomenon known as gravity and that we can produce
broader explanations which, among other things, show why the earth orbits the sun in a
particular way and that the sun in turn has positional relationships with other stellar
bodies.
Typically we are able to derive a scientific law by:

● making an initial observation

● giving a provisional hypothesis which explains what is being observed
● providing a means of testing the hypothesis
● actually testing the hypothesis – the experiment
● examining and analysing the results of the testing to see that they conform with
expectations, or some revision thereof
● saying that the hypothesis is now a scientific law that holds good for a given range of
the phenomenon – and which can be published as such.

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This process is known as the scientific method. The end result of the application of the
scientific method is a scientific law.
If we have carried out the exercise properly, we can now predict what will happen for all
activities within that range of the phenomenon – and anyone else will be able to do the
same. Universality and repeatability are key features of scientific laws. You should also
be aware that scientists generally agree that nothing can be proven in absolute terms, but
we can say a scientific law holds good until it is proven false.
Although findings may be written up in academic journals using a structure rather like the
bullet points above, in practice, scientific endeavour is often much more complex than
this. Indeed, the actual process may be much more intuitive and haphazard, showing
strong elements of creativity and imagination. Here are a few issues that impact on
scientific advances:

● It is not unusual for the initial hypothesis to be substantially wrong. It may, for
example, be recognised part way through testing that the initial hypothesis is
misconceived, in which case a new, preferably more reliable, hypothesis may be
produced.
● One of the key features of the scientific method is testing, but what constitutes a
test? Experimental activities must be carefully designed to test the precise
hypothesis and nothing else. Controls are usually needed to examine and isolate
observations of changes under various conditions. Perhaps the single biggest area
of dispute within science is that of testing methodology; the second is allegation of
falsifying results.
● Real-life formulation of scientific laws is often an iterative process towards fuller and
more reliable understanding. Once the researcher is satisfied with the test results,
they may be published in an appropriate scientific journal, thereby adding to the pool
of scientific knowledge. Before publication takes place, the work will be peer-
reviewed for flaws (and originality).

It is also the case that, at any one time, there is a dominant view of how things work, within
which most scientific endeavour in a particular field takes place. Every so often that
dominant view turns out to be misconceived and/or there is a major discovery and a
paradigm shift occurs. It is therefore possible to distinguish between normal science,
which is the vast majority of work that is carried out, and the much rarer paradigmatic
work.
Established scientific law does change through time, and through agreement and
convention of the scientific community. For example, Einstein’s theories on relativity now
extend understanding formed by Newton’s ideas on gravity. The same applies in
legislation, as new ideas, experiences and, often, criminal practices emerge. As well as
considerable improvements in methods of detection, advances such as fingerprints have
enhanced the proof allowed in law (although even this has been subject to revision in light
of new data, as you will soon see).
Forensic science uses the scientific method too, but we need to distinguish between at
least two instances of it:

1. the discoveries of phenomena that we can put rules to and that appear to have a
value within an investigation that might end in legal proceedings (such as particular
qualities of fingerprints and DNA)
2. the development and proper use in the relevant instances of specialist tools and
standard operating procedures based on the above.

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Arguably there is also a third instance: when a forensic technician examines a specific
item of evidence and reports the findings. This must be ‘scientific’ to the extent that it is
repeatable by others. In criminal law procedure, the repeatability should be accessible to
an expert instructed by the defence. This requirement to be scientific implies, among other
things, having the original material (or some acceptable duplicate) available for inspection
and having detailed reporting of what was done.

Activity 2
(Allow 30 minutes)

Perform a simple internet search for college or university courses with the word
‘forensic’ in their title. See if you can find two or three that would fit our definition of
forensic science and two or three that do not.
Discussion
Your findings may vary, but most of the natural sciences can easily apply the forensic
adjective and still qualify by our definition. Perhaps forensic psychology fits, but what
about forensic geography? How about forensic literature study? This is something you
could discuss with other students in the forums.

2.2 Forensic scientists

Professionals who work in this field are known as forensic scientists or ‘archaeologists of
the recent past’. Forensic scientists work in hospitals, police departments, laboratories,
universities, morgues and corporate organisations.
The profession has gained huge popularity all over the world mainly due to TV drama
series (such as CSI and Silent Witness) and forensic documentaries, but progress in
forensic science has not been uniform throughout the world.
The different specialisms of forensic science include:
Forensic Pathology – the study of problems relating to unnatural death and various
types of trauma to the living. It is a specialty of medicine and a sub-speciality of pathology.

Figure 1 Fingerprint
Forensic DNA – the use of biological science to identify individuals by their DNA profile,
using genetic samples such as blood, semen and saliva. The concept was first designed
by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester in 1985.

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Figure 2 DNA strand

Forensic Engineering – the investigation of accidents involving vehicle, aircraft, fire,
electrical or metal fatigue by applying engineering principles to solve how they were
caused.

Figure 3 Burning vehicle

Digital Forensics – digital forensics is the area of forensics in which professionals
analyse and gather data from a computer or other form of digital media.

Figure 4 Inside a computer

Forensic Accounting – to trace any financial inconsistencies within a company’s
account.

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Figure 5 Money
Forensic Dentistry – the use of information through examination of teeth and dental
prostheses to assist in identifying human remains and evaluating bite marks.

Figure 6 Teeth
Forensic Anthropology – the study of human beings in relation to their physical
character. The specialist answers questions on gender, age, ethnicity, stature, nutritional
status, existence of disease processes, and the presence and character of skeletal
trauma.
Early pioneers of forensic anthropology included Thomas Dwight, whose book The
Identification of the Human Skeleton: A Medico-Legal Study (1878) was used successfully
in a court case in 1897.

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Figure 7 Bones
Forensic Toxicology – the detection, identification and quantification of drugs, other
poisons or toxins in body tissues and fluid, including blood.

Figure 8 Test tube of liquid

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Activity 3
(Allow 15 minutes)

Using search engines or other resources, name two other areas of forensic science
and write a short paragraph describing each.

Provide your answer...

If you would like to know more about some of the other forensic science disciplines, the
book Crime Scene to Court (White, 2016) provides a good overview of many of them.

Activity 4
(Allow 30 minutes)

Write your thoughts on one or more of the following topics. You don’t have to spend
much (if any) time performing research to answer the questions.

a. How do you think fictional crime dramas have affected the public perception of
forensic science? How do you think they have affected criminals? Which dramas
do you think give the most accurate and least accurate portrayals of forensic
scientists?
b. Why do you think an electrician who helps to determine the source of a fire is not
a forensic scientist? Why is education alone not sufficient for one to become a
forensic scientist?

Provide your answer...

Discussion
a. Crime dramas tend to oversimplify forensic science, which is often necessary to
move a plot along. Results that may take days or weeks take hours because it would
be boring to watch a protagonist twiddle their thumbs or get on with other jobs while
they wait for results to come back. Digital forensics tends solve impossible tasks in
crime dramas or give the impression that a digital forensics expert can (or would!) hack
into any system. Criminals are certainly more forensically aware and will know to avoid
leaving DNA or wiping or destroying digital devices that may contain evidence. Almost
all the dramas we have seen take great liberties with the speed at which digital
forensics, or triage, can be carried out, although the recent series Mr Robot has some
of the most accurate portrayals of forensics and security tools.
b. While an electrician may find that poorly insulated electrical cables allowed arcing to
cause a fire, she may not be trained to look for tool marks on cabinets, which might
indicate tampering. She may not have studied examples of arson committed by
consumer unit tampering or recognise residue from an explosive device or firearm,
and will not have been independently examined in the practical and legal frameworks
surrounding an investigation. A forensics scientist needs both education and
experience to deal with the unique characteristics that each crime scene presents. Life
rarely matches textbook situations.

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2.2.1 Pioneers of forensic science

Modern forensic science has its roots in the work of several 19th century pioneers. Some
of the ‘fathers’ of forensic science include:

Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) was a French police officer and a biometrics

researcher who created the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals
based on physical measurements, including the invention of the police ‘mug shot’. His
technique of anthropometry cannot actually uniquely identify a person and is no longer
used.
Bertillon also wrote a famous paper, ‘Les empreintes digitales’ (1912) on the
uniqueness of 16 ridge points on fingerprints to identify people. In 1999 the paper was
found to have contained altered images and fingerprints are now considered as opinion
evidence, not proof a person was there. This finding was recently reported by Miller
(2013) in his law blog.

August Vollmer (1876–1955) was the chief of police in Berkeley in 1909 and the lead
figure in the development of the field of criminal justice in the USA. He pioneered the
system of fingerprinting and handwriting evidence, the use of polygraph and the
application of forensic science to investigations.

Dr Edmund Locard (1877–1966) was a French criminalist who wrote several pieces
with his most famous, Traite de criminastique (Treaty of Criminalistics), in the 1920s
postulating that microscopic examination of clothing and other physical evidence could
reveal information about the history of the wearer. He is best known for Locard’s
Exchange Principle which can be summarised as ‘every contact leaves a trace’

Locard’s Exchange Principle states: ‘Wherever two surfaces come into contact, a transfer
of minutiae, however slight, occurs.’ Kirk described this as follows:

Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves – even

unconsciously – will serve as silent evidence against him. Not only his
fingerprints and his shoeprints, but also his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the
glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or
semen he deposits or collects – all these and more bear mute witness against
him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement
of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual
evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong; it cannot perjure itself; it cannot
be wholly absent. Only in its interpretation can there be error. Only human
failure to find, study, and understand it can diminish its value.
(Kirk, 1953)

Silent Witness (1996–), which takes its name from Locard’s Exchange Principle, is one
of many recent TV series to include forensics as a major plot element. Although
professionals usually advise the script writers, the portrayal of forensics in these series
is often adjusted for dramatic effect and gives the general public a distorted view of the
field (cf. The CSI effect).

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Figure 9 Dr Edmund Locard

Locard’s Exchange Principle is really about physical evidence and the question arises as
to how far his ideas apply to digital evidence where concepts of touch and contact may
require some reinterpretation.

Activity 5
(Allow 30 minutes)

Based on your current understanding of the various types of digital evidence, how far
do you think Locard’s Exchange Principle can be made to apply?
Discussion
No matter what your level of technical sophistication, you will probably realise that
most events involving a computer leave some trace of the behaviour. A log of every
action is recorded somewhere, whether the action is email passing through, the act of
logging into a computer or visiting a web page. The more difficult thing to verify is who
committed a given act, since the use of a password does not guarantee that the
password holder is the person typing it.

2.2.2 Further reading

A discussion of Locard’s Exchange Principle and other theories can be found in ‘
Evidence dynamics: Locard’s Exchange Principle & crime reconstruction’ (Chisum and
Turvey, 2000).

2.3 Case study: The Shirley McKie story

In February 1997, a British policewoman, Shirley McKie, was charged with perjury after
testifying at a murder trial that she had not been in the victim’s house, where her
thumbprint was supposedly found. McKie’s house was searched and she was taken back
to the police station where she was strip-searched and detained because of the
controversial thumbprint.

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The Scottish Criminal Record Office produced four fingerprint experts who certified that
the thumbprint definitely belonged to McKie. However, she maintained her innocence and
was acquitted, saved from a potential eight years’ imprisonment, after two American
fingerprinting experts endorsed that the thumbprint did not belong to her.
After much media activity, legal action and controversy, Michael Russell, a member of the
Scottish parliament, asked fingerprinting experts from around the world to verify the
ownership of this thumbprint and had 171 certifications from 18 different countries that the
thumbprint did not belong to McKie.
The main concern with the entire issue was not only about its effect on McKie’s career, but
also about the accuracy of the Scottish Criminal Record Office’s earlier assertions. A civil
trial against the Scottish Executive was due to be heard in early 2006. On the morning of
the trial, the Executive offered McKie a settlement of £750,000 without admitting liability.
She accepted the offer and the trial did not go ahead. Following the end of legal
proceedings, the Scottish Parliament held an inquiry during 2006, which identified
fundamental weaknesses in the Scottish fingerprinting service. Before the inquiry
reported, the Scottish Criminal Record Office offered early retirement to four of its
fingerprint officers, three of whom accepted the offer. The officer who refused early
retirement was subsequently sacked, but later won a case for unfair dismissal.
A public inquiry into the case was held in 2009, with the report being published in 2011.
The inquiry blamed human error and inadequate procedures for the misidentification of
McKie’s thumbprint. It found no evidence of a conspiracy by the police against McKie, nor
did it find any weaknesses in the theory of identification using fingerprints. However, it
warned:

Practitioners and fact-finders alike require to give due consideration to the limits
of the discipline.
(Report of The Fingerprint Inquiry Scotland, 2011, p. 630)

Among its recommendations, the inquiry said ‘fingerprint evidence should be recognised
as opinion evidence, not fact’ (p. 741).
Shirley McKie received a full personal apology from Strathclyde Police Chief Constable
Stephen House in April 2012, more than 14 years after the murder of Marion Ross. Ross’s
murder has never been solved.

Activity 6
(Allow 10 minutes)

Based on your current knowledge of digital forensics, what lessons do you think the
McKie case has for digital forensic investigations?
Discussion
Digital evidence can only show what a computer did, not what a person did, and the
conclusions of a digital forensics investigators need to distinguish clearly between
facts and opinion. It is also important to know what your assumptions are based on.
The fingerprint experts assumed that Bertillon’s claim about 16 ridge points making a
print unique was true, but it turned out not to be.

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2.4 Summary of Section 2

In this section you saw that forensic science uses various branches of knowledge such as
science, medicine or technology to assist the courts in legal proceedings.
Forensic science is the collection and analysis of physical evidence generated by criminal
activity or relating to a civil matter. The physical evidence may include drugs, firearms, tool
marks, fingerprints, footwear, blood, glass, paint, bones, soil, accounting records and
other material. All the analysis is conducted in a forensic laboratory, following strict
evidence handling procedures laid down by professional bodies and regulators.

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3 The role of the forensic scientist in law

The end result of many forensic investigations is their use to prove guilt or innocence in a
criminal trial, establish liability in a civil trial, reach an internal disciplinary decision in a
company, or arrive at a result in an employment tribunal.

Activity 7
(Allow 30 minutes)

Perform a search on UK internet news and legal websites for reports about Professor
Sir Roy Meadow, a child welfare specialist widely believed to have misunderstood
statistical material in cases involving mothers accused of killing their children. As a
result of his testimonies a number of women were imprisoned and only later released.
Who do you think is to blame for what happened?
Discussion
You will, of course, have your own opinion, but you should consider how much blame
should fall on Professor Meadow and how much should fall on the courts and lawyers
for not testing his evidence with sufficient rigour.

3.1 Legal decision-making

This takes us neatly to the next issue to explore: the relationship between a ‘finding’ by a
forensic scientist, and the decision of the court. Put bluntly: if a forensic scientist were to
state in evidence that there is a probability of 1 in 1 million that a DNA sample found at a
scene of crime matches the DNA profile of an accused, then would the court be bound to
accept his finding?

Activity 8
(Allow 1 hour)

One case where forensic evidence was crucial to the prosecution is known as R v
Adams [1996] (R in this case stands for Regina and is used where the Crown
Prosecution Service brings a case to court). Use the
Wikipedia entry for R v Adams [1996] case as a starting point for research to answer
the question:
What position does the court take regarding Adams and the statistical value of
evidence?
As with all Wikipedia entries, you should only use the article as an initial jumping-off
point and check what is being said against other sources.
Discussion
The position the court takes is quite clear. In the appeal case, Adams was accused of
rape but the only evidence against him was DNA. Later Court of Appeal guidelines
said that the judge’s directions to the jury about the statistical value of the evidence in
effect usurped their role.
The Court of Appeal said that the jury should have been told:

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Suppose the match probability is 1 in 20 million. That means that in Britain

(population about 60 million) there will be on average about 2 or 3 people,
and certainly no more than 6 or 7, whose DNA matches that found at the
crime scene, in addition to the accused. Now your job, as a member of the
jury, is to decide on the basis of the other evidence, whether or not you are
satisfied that it is the person on trial who is guilty, rather than one of the few
other people with matching DNA. We don’t know anything about the other
matching people. They are likely to be distributed all across the country and
may have been nowhere near the crime scene at the time of the crime.
Others may be ruled out as being the wrong sex or the wrong age group.
Court of Appeal Guidelines

You can read the short article mentioned on the Wikipedia page:
Donnelly, P. (2005) ‘Appealing statistics’, Significance, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 46–8 to see the
view of Professor Donnelly, who took part in the appeal.
If you have access to a legal database, you can find analysis of the R v Adams case in
a system such as Westlaw, which is an authoritative source of case reports. Once in
the database select Cases from the menu and enter R v Adams in the Party Names
box and search. You should see a result from 1996 and can select the Case Analysis
to read.

3.2 The role of the court

The case of R v Adams in Activity 8 illustrates that scientists and the courts have entirely
different functions. You have already seen what scientists do: they try to produce a
universal explanation using a set of procedures, which are capable of replication and
testing. The court’s job is to adjudicate on specific issues between the parties, or in the
criminal courts, determine whether the prosecution has shown on the basis of evidence
presented and accepted to a sufficient standard that a specific, identified crime has been
committed.
It is fundamental to the operation of the courts that once it reaches its decision, that
decision is final. This is true unless there are profound and obvious grounds for appeal.
There is a sound policy reason for this. It would be unfair to the participants in a civil case,
and even more unfair to someone accused of a crime, if a court could, several months or
years after reaching its decision, be allowed to say: ‘Sorry, we have done a bit more
thinking and we have now changed our mind’. This is sometimes referred to as the fiction
of certainty.

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3.3 Contrasting scientific conclusions with court

judgments
A trial process is not an enquiry into the truth or into hypothetical issues; it is testing
various versions of relevant evidence to see whether ‘on the balance of probabilities’ (in
civil cases) or the higher standard of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ (in criminal matters) it is
possible to reach a particular decision for that set of circumstances. In a famous US case,
Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals [1993], the judge said: ‘Scientific conclusions are
subject to perpetual revision. Law, on the other hand, must resolve disputes finally and
quickly ... Rules of Evidence [are] designed not for the exhaustive search for cosmic
understanding but the particularized resolution of legal disputes.’ (The quote is from
section 39.)
Two Oxford philosophers, Herbert Hart and Antony Honoré, put the matter thus: ‘The
lawyer and historian are both primarily concerned to make causal statements about
particulars, to establish that on some particular occasion some particular occurrence was
the effect or consequence of some other particular occurrence ... whereas for the scientist
the focus of attention is the discovery and the construction of theories.’
In the case of unauthorised access to a computer, the court isn’t asking a generalised
question along the lines of: ‘where a computer disk’s directory says that a file was first
created, does it always mean that this is the date on which the file first appeared on that
hard disk?’ Rather, the court is trying to decide if a party has made unauthorised access to
a computer, contrary to Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. To prove this has
indeed happened, there are a set of tests, each of which must be satisfied, before the
court can be satisfied that a person has had unauthorised access to a computer. In the
case of the offence just mentioned, the tests must show that:

1. a computer was involved

2. it was accessed

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3. it was accessed by the accused

4. such access was unauthorised
5. at the time of the offence the accused knew that the access was unauthorised.

You will realise that each of these five steps or tests raises several subsidiary questions,
which also need to be answered.

3.4 Summary of Section 3

This section illustrated the fact that although forensic investigations may use the scientific
method, the objective of the investigation is markedly different from scientific research. A
forensic investigation aims to make a clear determination of fact in a specific case that is
acceptable to a court of law and which is not subject to revision.
You also saw that there are significant issues with the presentation of forensic evidence to
courts; not only must any limitations on the evidence be made clear, but also evidence
must be tightly constrained so that it does not mislead participants.

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4 The role of digital forensics

4 The role of digital forensics

Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science and is recognised as such by most courts.
One definition from the first Digital Forensic Research Workshop (DFRWS) is:

The use of scientifically derived and proven methods toward the preservation,
collection, validation, identification, analysis, interpretation, documentation and
presentation of digital evidence derived from digital sources for the purpose of
facilitating or furthering the reconstruction of events found to be criminal, or
helping to anticipate unauthorized actions shown to be disruptive to planned
operations.
(Palmer, 2001, p. 16)

In the UK the professional body for forensic scientists, The Chartered Society of Forensic
Sciences, includes digital forensics as one of its sub-disciplines and the process for digital
forensics is much the same as for the traditional areas of forensic science.

4.1 The digital forensic process

The digital forensic process has the following five basic stages:

1. Identification – the first stage identifies potential sources of relevant evidence/

information (devices) as well as key custodians and location of data.
2. Preservation – the process of preserving relevant electronically stored information
(ESI) by protecting the crime or incident scene, capturing visual images of the scene
and documenting all relevant information about the evidence and how it was
acquired.
3. Collection – collecting digital information that may be relevant to the investigation.
Collection may involve removing the electronic device(s) from the crime or incident
scene and then imaging, copying or printing out its (their) content.
4. Analysis – an in-depth systematic search of evidence relating to the incident being
investigated. The outputs of examination are data objects found in the collected
information; they may include system- and user-generated files. Analysis aims to
draw conclusions based on the evidence found.
5. Reporting – firstly, reports are based on proven techniques and methodology and
secondly, other competent forensic examiners should be able to duplicate and
reproduce the same results.

A crucial activity that accompanies the first four steps is contemporaneous note-taking.
This is the documentation of what you have done immediately after you have done it in
sufficient detail for another person to reproduce what you have done from the notes alone.

Activity 9
Optional (Allow 1 hour)

This activity is for the technically minded or curious only who would like a preview of
the digital forensics process: watch the YouTube video

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4 The role of digital forensics

A Geek’s Guide to Digital Forensics (2011) (you may want to use the fast-forward
feature to skip some sections).

Digital forensics is not solely about the processes of acquiring, preserving, analysing and
reporting on data concerning a crime or incident. A digital forensic scientist must be a
scientist first and foremost and therefore must keep up to date with the latest research on
digital forensic techniques. They may also contribute to the discipline through their own
research and publish it in peer-reviewed journals.

4.2 A brief history of digital forensics

Until the late 1990s, what became known as digital forensics was commonly termed
‘computer forensics’. The first computer forensic technicians were law enforcement
officers who were also computer hobbyists. In the USA in 1984 work began in the FBI
Computer Analysis and Response Team (CART). One year later, in the UK, the
Metropolitan Police set up a computer crime unit under John Austen within what was then
called the Fraud Squad.
A major change took place at the beginning of the 1990s. Investigators and technical
support operatives within the UK law enforcement agencies, along with outside
specialists, realised that digital forensics (as with other fields) required standard
techniques, protocols and procedures. Apart from informal guidelines, these formalisms
did not exist but urgently needed to be developed. A series of conferences, initially
convened by the Serious Fraud Office and the Inland Revenue, took place at the Police
Staff College at Bramshill in 1994 and 1995, during which the modern British digital
forensic methodology was established.
In the UK in 1998 the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) produced the first
version of its Good Practice Guide for Digital Evidence (Association of Chief Police
Officers, 2012). The ACPO guidelines detail the main principles applicable to all digital
forensics for law enforcement in the UK.
As the science of digital forensics has matured these guidelines and best practice have
slowly evolved into standards and the field has come under the auspices of the
Forensic Science Regulator in the UK.

Activity 10
(Allow 1 hour)

Part 1
Search the internet for no more than five minutes for the series of ISO standards
relating to digital forensics and list each of the standards you think applies.
Discussion
You may have found the ISO27001 information security website in your search results.
This lists various standards relevant to digital forensics some of which are draft:

● ISO/ IEC 27037:2012 Guidelines for identification, collection, acquisition and

preservation of digital evidence
● ISO/ IEC 27041 Assurance for digital evidence investigation methods
● ISO/ IEC 27042 Guidelines for the analysis and interpretation of digital evidence
● ISO/ IEC 27043 Incident investigation principles and processes.

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4 The role of digital forensics

You may have looked at the ISO website for these too. You can browse standards by
the relevant technical committee (ISO/IEC JTC1 – Joint Technical Committee) and this
shows both published and draft standards. (The abbreviation ISO/IEC/DIS stands for
International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commis-
sion/Draft International Standard.)
British Standards has a standards development site which you can search and has a
link to their Draft standards review site.

Part 2
Search the internet for the current UK Forensic Science Regulator’s Codes of Practice
and Conduct (Forensic Science Regulator, 2011). Read Section 21 and say why a
digital forensic scientist might have difficulty complying with this item.

Answer
A forensic scientist may have difficulty complying with Section 21 of the
Forensic Science Regulator’s Codes of Practice and Conduct because software rarely
(if ever) comes with a certification from the manufacturer as to its validity (or for that
matter, fitness for purpose to do anything).

4.3 Different types of digital forensics

Digital forensics is a constantly evolving scientific field with many sub-disciplines. Some of
these sub-disciplines are:

1. Computer Forensics – the identification, preservation, collection, analysis and

reporting on evidence found on computers, laptops and storage media in support of
investigations and legal proceedings.
2. Network Forensics – the monitoring, capture, storing and analysis of network
activities or events in order to discover the source of security attacks, intrusions or
other problem incidents, i.e. worms, virus or malware attacks, abnormal network
traffic and security breaches.
3. Mobile Devices Forensics – the recovery of electronic evidence from mobile
phones, smartphones, SIM cards, PDAs, GPS devices, tablets and game consoles.
4. Digital Image Forensics – the extraction and analysis of digitally acquired
photographic images to validate their authenticity by recovering the metadata of the
image file to ascertain its history.
5. Digital Video/Audio Forensics – the collection, analysis and evaluation of sound
and video recordings. The science is the establishment of authenticity as to whether
a recording is original and whether it has been tampered with, either maliciously or
accidentally.
6. Memory forensics – the recovery of evidence from the RAM of a running computer,
also called live acquisition.

In practice, there are exceptions to blur this classification because the grouping by the
provider is dictated by staff skill sets, contractual requirements, lab space, etc. For
example:

● Tablets or smartphones without SIM cards could be considered computers.

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4 The role of digital forensics

● Memory cards (and other removable storage media) are often found in smartphones
and tablets, so they could be considered under mobile forensics or computer
forensics.
● Tablets with keyboards could be considered laptops and fit under computer or mobile
forensics.

The science of digital forensics has a seemingly limitless future and as technology
advances, the field will continue to expand as new types of digital data are created by new
devices logging people’s activity. Although digital forensics began outside the mainstream
of forensic science, it is now fully absorbed and recognised as a branch of forensic
science.

Activity 11
(Allow 15 minutes)

a. Based on your current understanding of the various types of digital evidence, how
far do you think Locard’s Exchange Principle can be made to apply?
b. Forensic data stored in electronic media differs in one important aspect from most
physical evidence: how can this make the digital forensic scientist’s job easier
than scientists dealing with blood or fibres?

Discussion
a. In visiting a website a visitor will leave a trace in the log file of the web server
which includes the IP address that accessed the server. However some traces
may only be transient; most routers do not store details of the packets passing
through them (unless the NSA or GCHQ have tapped the router!). Data stored in
electronic media differs from physical evidence in that a perfect copy (called an
image) can be created and an investigator can perform tests on the copy without
affecting the original. If the copy is destroyed or altered a new copy can be made
at no cost. Physical evidence is usually irreparably altered or destroyed by
testing.
b. Locard’s Exchange principle applies even though there is no physical contact
when computers connect to each other, but the trace may be transient and the
trace easily lost, for example a packet passing through a router.

Activity 12 The Case of the Stolen Exams

(Allow 30 minutes)

There is a crisis for The Open University. Exam papers are circulating on eBay! Can
our fearless forensic investigators find the source of the leak and ensure a successful
prosecution?
Watch the short video The Case of the Stolen Exams, taking notes of what you see so
that you can answer the following question:
Can you see any problems with the investigation?
Write down all the issues that you think might be a problem for securing a conviction.

Video content is not available in this format.

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4 The role of digital forensics

Activity 13 The Case of the Stolen Exams – Revisited

(Allow 30 minutes)

Now watch the video The Case of the Stolen Exams – Revisited and see how many
issues you spotted in the original investigation.

Video content is not available in this format.

4.4 Summary of Section 4

In this section you saw that digital forensics is an obvious development of existing forensic
procedures brought about by the introduction of new technology. What began almost as
an ad hoc set of procedures rapidly became formalised as guidelines for investigators
(ACPO, 2012). These guidelines offer procedures for securing and studying digital
evidence in a way that does not compromise its integrity so that it can be used in a court
of law.
Such is the scope of digital technology that digital forensics is further subdivided into
specialised areas. An investigation may require specialists from several areas to
understand all of the evidence.

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5 Conclusion

5 Conclusion
This free course, Digital forensics, which is an introduction to computer forensics and
investigation, has given you a taster for the full course, which is M812. It has given you a
broad view of the scope of digital forensics, including topics which are covered in greater
depth in M812. As you have seen, both forensics (in general) and digital forensics (in
particular) encompass a wide range of distinct disciplines.
You have learned something of the history of forensics from the 19th century onwards and
seen how many of the principles laid down by early investigators can be applied to
modern technologies. You have also been introduced to some of the guidelines used by
digital forensic investigators.
A clear distinction between scientific investigations for research purposes and forensic
investigations using scientific methods has been made. It is vital to remember this
distinction. Scientific research is always subject to revision whereas forensic investiga-
tions should result in a clear-cut result and any limitations on that result made clear to a
court.
You also had your first chance to experience a forensic investigation. In The Case of the
Stolen Exams; you saw how a poor investigation could compromise any subsequent trial,
and how proper investigative techniques help to preserve evidence for further
investigations.
This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course
M812 Digital forensics.

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Keep on learning

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References

References
Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (2012) Good Practice Guide for Digital
Evidence, 5th version [Online]. Available at http://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/crime/
2011/201110-cba-digital-evidence-v5.pdf (Accessed 28 January 2014).
Bertillon, A. (1912) ‘Les empreintes digitales’. Archives d’Anthropologie Criminelle,
Médecine Légale et Psychologie Normale et Pathologique, vol. 27, pp. 36–52.
Campbell, A. (2011) Report of the Fingerprint Inquiry Scotland [Online]. Available at http://
www.thefingerprintinquiryscotland.org.uk/inquiry/21.html (Accessed 17 December 2013).
Chisum, W. J. and Turvey, B. E. (2000) ‘Evidence dynamics: Locard’s Exchange Principle
& crime reconstruction’, Journal of Behavioral Profiling, vol. 1, no. 1 [Online]. Available at
http://www.profiling.org/journal/vol1_no1/jbp_ed_january2000_1-1.html (Accessed 2 De-
cember 2013).
Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (92-102), 509 U.S. 579 [1993].
Dwight, T. (1878) The identification of the human skeleton. Boston, Massachusetts
Medical Society [Online]. Available at https://archive.org/details/identificationof00dwig
(Accessed 20 February 2014).
Forensic Science Regulator (2011) Codes of Practice and Conduct [Online]. Available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118949/
codes-practice-conduct.pdf (Accessed 5 December 2013).
Higher Education Academy (2010) ‘What is forensic science?’ [Online] Available at http://
www.heacademy.ac.uk/forensic_careers/what_is_forensic_science (Accessed
22 March 2014).
Kirk, P. L. (1953) Crime Investigation: Physical Evidence and the Police Laboratory, New
York, Interscience.
Miller, C. G. (2013) ‘Fingerprint identification not infallible, nor scientific & based on fraud’,
cliffordmillerlaw, 8 March [Online]. Available at http://cliffordmillerlaw.wordpress.com/
2013/03/08/fingerprint-identification-not-infallible-nor-scientific-based-on-fraud/ (Ac-
cessed 2 December 2013).
Palmer, G. (2001) A Road Map for Digital Forensic Research: Report from the First Digital
Forensic Research Workshop (DFRWS), Digital Forensic Research Workshop, DTR –
T001-01 FINAL [Online]. Available at http://www.dfrws.org/2001/dfrws-rm-final.pdf (Ac-
cessed 3 December 2013).
R v Adams [1996] EWCA Crim 22.
White, P. C. (ed) (2016) Crime Scene to Court, London, Royal Society of Chemistry.

Acknowledgements
This free course was written by Peter Sommer and Blaine A. Price.
This free course is adapted from a former Open University course Digital forensics
(M812).
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this
content is made available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

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Acknowledgements

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