Updated July 5, 2023
Definition of Forensic Tools
Forensic is an application where investigation and analysis techniques are used to assemble and preserve the evidence found from specific computing electronic equipment in such a way that they are suitable for presenting in a court of law. The main objective of computer forensics is to study a well-structured subject of the investigation while detailing a documented analysis sequence of evidence or proofs to figure out what has occurred on an electronic device and the persons responsible for it.
Generally, Forensic investigators usually follow a quality set of procedural rules after physically isolating the electronic equipment in question to ensure it should not be corrupted by chance; investigators ensure that a digital duplicate shared copy of that device is stored. Once the first media has been derived, it’s fast in a safe or alternative secure facility to maintain its pristine condition. The investigators conduct all forensic investigations on the digital copy of the evidence.
Top 10 Types of Forensic Tools
Investigators employ forensics to uncover all the hidden private details that the area unit has left behind during or throughout an occurrence. Forensics methods aim to look at, preserve, and analyze the data in a very detailed form on a computer system to seek potential proof for an attempt.
Below are a few best Forensic tools that are promising in today’s era:
1. SANS SIFT
SANS Investigative Forensic Toolkit (SIFT) is based on Ubuntu Server Live CD containing a complete set of tools in which you wish to perform a rigorous forensic cybercrime or any incident-responsive inquiry. This is a free available SIFT forensic toolkit similar to any advanced incident inquiry and a tool that suite is also an additional feature in the course of SANS’ Advanced Incident Response. It signifies that effective investigations and acknowledging the intrusions is the only way to accomplish the cutting-edge and open-source-system tool that is easily out there and is often updated.
Features of SIFT:
- Effective memory utilization
- Advanced tools and techniques
- 64-bit system
- Compatible with both Linux and Windows
2. ProDiscover Forensic
It is one of the most significant Forensic Tools that will enable the computer to locate the data on its Hard Disk, protect the evidence it found, and generate good quality-analyzed results for legal procedures.
This tool also recovers the deleted files, checks the space in the device, and dynamically allows search in the disks. This tool reads the data from a disk at a sector level, so no data loss happens in any critical incidents.
Features of ProDiscover Forensic:
- It uses Perl Scripts to automate forensic searches.
- Reads the data from disk.
- No data loss happens in critical issues.
- Fetches the data even if deleted or hidden without affecting the files’ Metadata.
3. Volatility Framework
Volatility Framework was publicly released at BlackHat and by the academic research Centre, it is an advanced memory analysis. It also gives a unique structure that will enable cut-edge research immediately into the digital investigator’s hands. It finds application in the military, commercial investigations, law enforcement, and other fields.
4. CAINE
Computer-Aided Investigative Environment is a Linux Live CD to meet up with the standards of forensic reliability. It is a semi-automated report generator to get the results quickly. In the present version, CAINE is based on Linux and LightDM. It also has a user-friendly interface to work effectively.
5. X-Ways Forensics
X-Ways Forensic is widely regarded as an advanced and efficient tool that operates faster, facilitates deleted file recovery, and offers portability. It also offers features as it runs on a USB stick on Windows Server.
Its key features include disk cloning,2TB space in memory, recovering lost data, editing binary data structures, etc.
6. Xplico
Xplico is a networking Forensic Tool that reconstructs the contents with a packet sniffer like Netsniff-ng. It extracts and reconstructs all web pages that are generally lost.
Some features of Xplico include:
- As a networking Forensic Tool, it supports IPv4, IPv6, HTTP, SIP, etc.
- It also supports Multithreading.
- It gives the output in SQL Database.
- There is no size limit on data entry and extraction.
7. The Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy)
The Sleuth Kit is a group of command tools that will allow checking the disk image and recovering any lost files from them. It analyses the volume and file system data. The plug-in built into this framework will allow you to incorporate new modules to build some automated scripts to get the result without any manual intervention.
Features of Autopsy:
- Forensic investigators examine Large Cases in multiple stages.
- It also extracts camera information and geological info.
- It also identifies shortcuts and access in the documents.
- It extracts web activity from a web browser to identify user actions.
8. Registry Recon
Registry Recon is widely recognized as a highly advanced registry analysis tool. It examines the registry information from the data stored in the evidence, and in some cases, it also rebuilds its representation. It is not available for free; however, it charges some cost to use it.
9. Volatility
It is a memory forensic tool. This tool is a user-friendly tool, and it is available for free to use it. It helps in extracting the data from Windows trash files. When data is lost and needs to be recovered, the data recovery process retrieves the deleted or lost data from the hard disk at the metadata level.
10. Bulk Extractor
It is a digital forensic tool to scan disk data, including files, images, or directories. Intelligence groups or law enforcement agents utilize it to solve cyber-related crimes due to its faster speed compared to other forensic tools.
Conclusion
In this modern world, mobile phones and digital data have been emerging. So forensic tools are very important in any of the cases; however, we cannot risk ignoring any such cases. The above tools are based on their advanced features, cost, effectiveness, reliability, and promising features. So some companies are trying to upgrade the system with more powerful upgrades in these tools to handle cybercrimes.
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