Digital Forensics: Data Collection and Acquisition Report Analysis

This report examines the crucial steps of data collection and acquisition in digital forensics. It emphasizes the importance of proper handling of digital evidence, detailing how investigators gather sensitive information from various devices like hard drives and smartphones. The report then explores data acquisition, the process of creating forensic images, and discusses the two main types: static and live acquisition. It highlights tools such as Autopsy, FTK Imager, and Encase, used to image and analyze collected evidence. Specifically, the report discusses Autopsy, a graphical interface platform used by law enforcement for computer investigations, including features like ease of use, extensibility, speed, and cost-effectiveness. The conclusion stresses the importance of meticulous data collection and the appropriate use of forensic tools in the investigation process.

Running head: DIGITAL FORENSICS
DIGITAL FORENSICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Discussions
The digital forensics is an area of forensic science surrounding the recovery and
investigation of materials those are found in the devices those are digital and they are related
to computer crime. Digital forensics assists the team of forensic in order to evaluate, inspect,
recognises and then preserve the digital evidence that is stored in different types of electronic
devices (Caviglione, Wendzel and Mazurczyk 2017). I will discuss about the collection and
acquisition of data. I have learnt that collection and acquisition of data is the first step and
important step in investigation of a crime. I have studied that handling the digital evidence
must be conducted properly. I have learnt that the collection is the gathering of sensitive
information and then copying the information so that the evidence remains untouched when
the digital forensics is executed. I have learnt the ways the investigators collect the digital
evidences. I have studied that investigators seize and then maintain the evidences those are
original. I have known that the devices from which the investigators collect the data include
hard drives, thumb drives, memory cards, smart phones and many more. I have learnt that the
forensic investigators must be careful while collecting the digital evidence. I have known the
reason behind this (Sumalatha, and Batsa 2016). The reason is that the devices are found in
various state such as damaged, switched on, switched off and many more. Any wrong move
from the investigators will delete the data from the devices.
The next step after the collection of data is acquisition of data and it is very important
in the procedure of investigating a case. I have learnt that the acquisition of data is the
procedure of developing an image of the forensic of the evidences those are retrieved from
the various digital devices. I have studied about digital forensics and have seen that there are
two types of acquisition of data that the investigators can perform that is the static and the
live acquisition of data. I have learnt that there are various tools those are used by the forensic

2DIGITAL FORENSICS
investigators in order to conduct acquisition of data. I have studied about various tools used
for data acquisition such as Autopsy, FTK imager, Encase and many more (Montasari 2017).
I have known that these tools takes image of the evidence those are collect during the
investigation and provide imaging of the evidences. I have studied about the Autopsy tool
and I will discuss the tool here. I have studies that Autopsy is a platform of digital forensic
and graphical interface. I have learnt that this tool is utilised by the military, law enforcement
examiners in order to investigate the activities on a computer. The forensic investigators can
use it in order to recover photos from the memory card of a camera. I have studied about the
various features of Autopsy. The various feature of Autopsy is that it is easy to use,
extensible, and fast and it is cheaper. From here, I have concluded that collection and
acquisition of data is an important step in digital forensic. The forensic investigators must
collect the data proper and must use tools in order to acquire data.

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References
Caviglione, L., Wendzel, S. and Mazurczyk, W., 2017. The future of digital forensics:
Challenges and the road ahead. IEEE Security & Privacy, 15(6), pp.12-17.
Montasari, R., 2017. A standardised data acquisition process model for digital forensic
investigations. International Journal of Information and Computer Security, 9(3), pp.229-
249.
Sumalatha, M.R. and Batsa, P., 2016, April. Data collection and audit logs of digital forensics
in cloud. In 2016 International Conference on Recent Trends in Information Technology
(ICRTIT) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.