Forensic Focus – Articles
Security
Forensic Artifact: Malware Analysis in Windows 8
Windows is the most used operating system worldwide. I have met a lot of IT guys in my country and also other computer elites. My discovery was that 90 percent of them use Windows. I felt maybe that was just in my country, then I decided to contact some friends from UK, USA, India, and … Continue reading
Unacceptable Acceptable Use Policy
I had an opportunity this week to be on the receiving end of an acceptable use policy (AUP) – something that I should experience each and every time I work for a new client on their hardware, but something that isn’t often the case and thus is a bit of a novelty to me. It … Continue reading
The need for Transnational and State-Sponsored Cyber Terrorism Laws and Code of Ethics
Today, terrorists are making the best use of information technology to carry out their objectives. The NATO definition of cyber terrorism is “a cyber attack using or exploiting computer or communication networks to cause sufficient destruction to generate fear or to intimidate a society into an ideological goal” (Everard P, 2007 p 119). Cyber terrorism … Continue reading
Android Forensics
Smartphones are changing the IT and Communication landscape vastly. A Smartphone can do almost every good thing a computer can do. Today most of the corporate employee access and manage their official emails through the e-mail client installed on their Smartphone. Right from booking movie tickets to making fund transfers, all e-commerce and online banking … Continue reading
Introduction to Penetration Testing – Part 3a – Active Reconnaissance
Apologies in advance, this is a bit of a connective blog entry – this is a big topic, and it needs some scene setting, basic understanding and several weeks worth to get the most out of it. We live in a connected world now – my other half was showing me a washing machine with … Continue reading
Introduction to Penetration Testing – Part 2 – The Discovery Phase – Passive Reconnaissance
PenTest, like forensics, is almost as much an art as it is a science – you can only be taught so far, technical techniques and tools are all very well, but you really need a mind that can think sideways and approach a task from as many angles as possible. The ex-LE forensicators have this … Continue reading
An Introduction to Penetration Testing – Part 1
In an earlier article, many moons ago (Sorry Jamie !), I stated my opinion that Forensics and Security were opposite sides of the same coin. I’ve felt very strongly that my skills as a Security Consultant have only been strengthened and expanded by the experiences I’ve gained with Forensics, both as part of the Forensic … Continue reading
Mobile Phone Forensic Challenges
Introduction A great number of the mobile phones used worldwide every second require special knowledge and skills from forensic experts. More often it is not enough to be an experienced expert in computer forensics to understand all the peculiarities and difficulties of the mobile forensics. This article describes technical problems encountered by specialists in mobile … Continue reading
YouDetect – Implementing the principles of statistical classifiers and cluster analysis for the purposes of classifying illegally acquired multimedia files
Author: Jonathan Murphy, 7Safe Introduction Whilst all instances of the illegal acquisition of multimedia are not known, it is not possible to gain a complete loss value, but a loss of $12.5 billion has been suggested by the IPI. Continued response as a means of protecting the media companies and the income they receive from … Continue reading
What is “good enough” information security?
by Simon Biles I have, occasionally in the past, mentored people in (on?) Information Security – once for money (this is not a revenue stream that I’ve mastered by any stretch of the imagination!), but more often than not, informally and infrequently. What there is in common with most people who are keen, but still … Continue reading
PitchLake – a tar pit for scanners
by Simon Biles Founder of Thinking Security Ltd., an Information Security and Risk Management consultancy firm based near Oxford in the UK. We’ve had two bank holidays in a row here in the UK – first off for Easter, then for the Royal Wedding – time off work coupled with very pleasant weather and plenty … Continue reading
Biles’ Hierarchy of Disaster Recovery Needs
by Simon Biles Having failed to keep up with my New Year’s resolution of being more organised (the observant of you might have noticed the absence of a February column), it’s nice to be able to move into a new season – spring is with us and in the UK at least, that seems to … Continue reading
The Question Of Cyber Terrorism
by Robert Murrill rmurrill@verizon.net Executive Summary This paper will take a look at Cyber terrorism and explaining what it is and what it isn’t by showing how closely related Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Warfare are. Although the affects of both may have the same results, ultimately it is the tools of Cyber Warfare that are … Continue reading
Passive Network Security Analysis with NetworkMiner
First published January 2009 by Erik Hjelmvik networkminer.sourceforge.net It is disturbing how often networks are not properly documented in terms of IP plans, network segmentations and network security. Having a good view of the network is essential when performing a network security assessment. As such, one might choose to perform an active network scan with … Continue reading
