Computer and Hacking Forensics

CFHI Module 01 Part 1 Modern Forensics..

This is going to be an amazing course on computer forensics. One of my favorite courses in the world is forensics because it really ties in all of your other certifications, um, together. So you have Microsoft certifications, when you – where you learn about operating systems. You have Cisco certification where you learn about networking. You have open source certifications like Linux and Suse. Um, you have investigative type certifications like incident response and incident handling processes. Forensics is an amazing subject because it’s really going to take all of that and combine it together, so it is the aggregate. It is the, the filler in a crab cake, if you will. It is the material that is literally going to fill in all of the blanks. Everything that you didn’t learn in all of your other certifications, you’re going to learn it here in this course. So, let’s take a look a little bit, module by module. In the blue here, I have, ah, modules that are a little bit more information-oriented and the red ones that we’ll be covering some detailed hands-on examples with. Um, I have our core modules over here, and behind me, I have the, ah, modules that are still relevant, eh, in computer forensics, but aren’t getting the attention they need for whatever reason. So let’s go ahead and take a look in, eh – module by module, if you will. You have modern forensics, right? So this is how did forensics start, and how did we actually get to where we are today? Everything from, you know, the first fingerprints to, realistically, all of the modern laws and applications. Okay? So, next we have the investigative process. Little bit similar to incident handling, but more of, uh – eh, from the forensic point of view. We have how to search and seize visual evidence because that’s always going to be important, especially if you’re prosecuting crimes. You have digital evidence, the definition of digital evidence and what that actually means in today’s world. Um, how to be a first responder – in other words, somebody’s gotta get to the crime scene first or to the investigative, uh, subject matter first. So, what are they going to do? You know, do they immediately go in and start, uh, uh, manipulating things, or do they back up and start taking photographs, and start preparing their paperwork first? So we’ll talk about that. We’ll talk about how to build, um, a lab – a little bit about mobile labs, a little bit about the – what goes into a, a facility-type lab. We’ll look at, ah, file systems and hard drives in detail. Um, since most computers use Windows today, it’s really hard to talk about forensics without going just overboard to the world of Windows, so we’re going to spend a lot of time, uh, talking about Windows, and most of our tools will be Windows-oriented.
We’ll talk about the data acquisition process. We’ll talk about deleted files and partitions and some of the modern tools that we use, ah, like DD and how to actually use that so that you don’t, ah, saw off your own wrist when you’re using the tool. We’ll talk about open source tools like forensics tool key – case. We’ll talk about – a little bit about proprietary tools like encase. Um, we’ll talk about the amazing subject matter of stenography. Uh, image files, password cracking, how to do that. Ah, everybody always seems to wanna know about how John the Ripper works and some of the, the open source, uh, password crackers versus the password crackers that are, eh, literally by the dozens if you search online. How to look at logs, events, and event correlation, how to look at network forensics, and we’ll finish up with wireless. Otherwise, some of the other items in the field of forensics that just aren’t getting the steam that they need to – some of them are losing steam. Some of them just haven’t got to full steam yet. Um, subjects like mobile forensics – I only see this growing in popularity, especially since everybody nowadays in 2014 and past has, basically, an iPhone, or an Android, or some sort of mobile device. I only see that growing – although it’s not as popular as I think it should be yet. The whole reporting concept, ah, actually becoming an expert witness, uh routers because we still have network appliances and equipment, so there’s going to be forensics there. I don’t see that going away anytime soon because we’re all connected still. Um, audio and video forensics, Linux – I also have this down on, on the radar as something you really wanna know, um, also because most people have a deficiency on Linux. They’re really afraid of the Unix, or Linux, and all of the blends, and tools, and the name of tools, but just like you learned Windows, you should realistically think about using, ah, Linux, as well. Ah, Mac, as well, traditional media such as CDs and DVDs, and the old incident handling process. Incident handling is really taking off, ah, since about 2005 or so, um, and I only see it growing in popularity. So that’s the overview of the forensics course, so let’s go ahead and get started and take this apart module by module. Once again, thank you for paying attention. My name’s Leo Dregier, and welcome to the Course.