CO4514 | DIGITAL FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY ASSIGNMENT 1 | DIGITAL FORENSIC

Assessed Learning Outcomes

This assignment will assess the following module learning outcomes.

LO1 – Critically evaluate technology (software and hardware) used during the investigation of digital crime

LO2 – Critically evaluate tools, techniques and issues related to the recovery of digital evidence

LO4 – Use and extend a technical vocabulary necessary to interact with stakeholders in a digital forensic investigation

Constraints

There is a constraint of 2000 words for this assignment. This is the upper-limit.

If you exceed this constraint then your mark will be penalised. For every 20 words you exceed the limit, you will be penalised by 1% of your mark.

References do not count towards your word count. However, your in-text citations do count towards the word count.

Do not write more than 2000 words.

Submission

This assignment must be submitted via the Turnitin assignment on the CO4514 Blackboard area.

                                                                                                   

  

Assessment Description

Write a report that examines the way that you use your digital desktop, consider the implications this could have on evidence recovery, and make predictions about the future of evidence recovery.

Your report should cover these three main areas:-

• Area 1 - Examine your use of the digital desktop
• Area 2 - Implications for evidence recovery
• Area 3 - Predictions about future evidence recovery

However, you should write the report in a formal manner and structure it professionally, you could structure it such as introduction, digital desktop, evidence recovery, future and conclusion.

Area 1 - Examine Your Digital Desktop

You should examine your own use of the digital desktop. If you feel that it is not possible, or not appropriate to use your own digital desktop, then you can use the alternative scenario in Appendix A. If you use the alternative scenario then you must fill in the blanks using your imagination or the options that have been provided.

Nowadays, the digital desktop is no longer constrained by your physical desktop, and may include items such as mobile devices, cloud based storage, mobile phones, tablets, and any other device you use. You could also include your use of technology for entertainment and education purposes. You could examine your use of technology at work, at home, at University, or elsewhere.

This part of the assignment is attempting to demonstrate an understanding of how you currently use digital technology. It is unlikely that any two students on this module will use the exact same technology in exactly the same way.

For each of your devices you should suggest one way in which it could be used to commit a crime.

For each of your devices, you should justify the reason why you use that particular device, rather than other devices that provide similar functionality (for example, why do you have an Android-based mobile phone, rather than an iOS-based phone?). Did you choose a device for a particular reason – for example, did it provide a particular function?

This part of the assignment should provide your reader with a detailed understanding of what equipment you use, why you use it, how it aids you in your life (e.g. job satisfaction, entertainment enjoyment), and give one way in which it could be used for evil purposes.

You should use approximately 500 words for this part of your essay. You can provide this information in tabular format if it helps you to organise/visualise this information.

Do not provide any information that could raise concerns about the protection of your privacy.

Area 2 – Implications for Evidence Recovery

Research two of your devices and discover how you would perform an evidence recovery/acquisition on those devices.

This will require a deeper understanding of the underlying technology for the devices you have identified in the first part of your report. It is better to consider different types of devices, rather than repeating the same comments for the same type of storage device.

Different devices bring their own challenges when it comes to evidence recovery or evidence acquisition. For example, some devices may support a full physical acquisition, some devices may not, and some devices may require a part acquisition using logical methods.

You should:

• Evaluate the usefulness of the evidence recovery techniques you have identified
• Identify strengths and weaknesses in the tools and techniques available to you
• Evaluate the usefulness of the evidence that you would be able to recover
• Indicate whether or not it would be useful during the prosecution of the crime you identified in your examination of the digital desktop.

You should use approximately 1000 words for this part of your essay.

Area 3 – Predictions on Future Evidence Recovery

Computer technology is constantly changing, and as such the challenges facing those whose role it is to collect digital evidence change all the time.

For example. This is an interesting article that tells you some of the problems that may be faced by an evidence recovery person in the future. In this example, a Samsung Smart TV may be recording private conversations and sending them to third-party companies for processing. What would you do if you were tasked with the recovery of evidence from one of these Samsung Smart TVs, with the objective of capturing a digital recording of a private conversation (between two terrorist suspects for example).

This part of the assignment is expecting you to make educated guesses at what might happen in the future where technology is involved, and to identify the technical challenges an evidence recovery team may face.

If you could accurately predict the future, then you would probably already be very rich. You can use information from technology conferences, for example, The International Consumer Electronics Show can be a good indicator of future devices that will be commonplace in the home. You can also use your imagination – however, you should not include completely wild and unlikely predictions (e.g. you shouldn’t try to discuss evidence acquisition from the floating hover boards found in Back to the Future Part 2).

Likewise, you may wish to offer new ways in which to recover evidence from future devices. If you wish to offer new evidence recovery techniques, then you should rationalise the way those devices may work.

Everything you write in this section of your report should have a basis in fact: this is not an opportunity to write science fiction. You should provide references so that I understand where your ideas have originated (i.e. a reference to a piece of technology).

You should stick to technical challenges. Legal and ethical challenges are important, but shouldn’t be considered here.