Operating system forensics

Operating System Forensics is the first book to cover all three critical operating systems for digital forensic investigations in one comprehensive reference. Users will learn how to conduct successful digital forensic examinations in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, the methodologies used, key technical concepts, and the tools needed to perform examinations. Mobile operating systems such as Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry are also covered, providing everything practitioners need to conduct a forensic investigation of the most commonly used operating systems, including technical details of how each operating system works and how to find artifacts. This book walks you through the critical components of investigation and operating system functionality, including file systems, data recovery, memory forensics, system configuration, Internet access, cloud computing, tracking artifacts, executable layouts, malware, and log files. You'll find coverage of key technical topics like Windows Registry, /etc directory, Web browers caches, Mbox, PST files, GPS data, ELF, and more. Hands-on exercises in each chapter drive home the concepts covered in the book. You'll get everything you need for a successful forensics examination, including incident response tactics and legal requirements. Operating System Forensics is the only place you'll find all this covered in one book. Covers digital forensic investigations of the three major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS Presents the technical details of each operating system, allowing users to find artifacts that might be missed using automated tools Hands-on exercises drive home key concepts covered in the book. Includes discussions of cloud, Internet, and major mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS.

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Foreword; Preface; Chapter 1 -- Forensics and Operating Systems; Introduction; Forensics; Evidence Inclusion and Exclusion; Federal Rules of Evidence; Frye Versus Daubert; Evidence Handling; Operating systems; Microsoft Windows; Linux; Graphical User Interface; File Systems; Mac OS X; Conclusions; Summary; Exercises; Bibliography; Chapter 2 -- File Systems; Introduction; Disk geometry; Master boot record; Unified extensible firmware interface; Windows file systems; File Allocation Table (FAT); Partition Boot Sector; File Table.

Root DirectoryFile Analysis; New Technology File System (NTFS); Alternate Data Streams; Volume Shadow Copy; Sparse Files; Resilient File System (ReFS); Linux file systems; ext2; ext3/4; Apple file systems; HFS+; Slack space; Conclusions; Summary; Exercises; Bibliography; Chapter 3 -- Data and File Recovery; Introduction; Data carving; Searching and deleted files; Slack space and sparse files; Data hiding; Time stamps/stomps; Time lines; Volume shadow copies; Summary; Exercises; Bibliography; Chapter 4 -- Memory Forensics; Introduction; Real memory and addressing; Virtual memory; Memory layout.

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