From: daniel heinonen [d.heinonen@qut.edu.au] Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 8:20 PM To: forensics@securityfocus.com Subject: forensics: Assignment outline Hi all, Sorry to burden you all with my assignment again, however I thought if anyone else was drafting talks or writing their own document some of this may come in handy. When I finish my assignment on Friday I will make it available. I have directed this document to people outside the field as my experience is limited and this has been what most other sites focus on. My main question would be with the broad topics I have listed below, are there any, which people believe do not effect the work of computer forensics. The other question would be is there anything major I have left out. I have a large amount of research material so I will be backing these items up with examples. Volume of Information Rapidly increasing storage capacity Searching for evidence Evidence preservation Scope of seizure Technology advancements Increase in tools Increase in vulnerabilities Increasing awareness Changing environments Changing devices and scope of evidence Encryption Steganophy Assumption of guilt Reliance on user error Output of tools Authenticity Beyond reasonable doubt Multi users on one resource Administrator Integrity Company policies Integrity Sterile resources Proprietary tools Output of tools Output of computer generated records Checksum Output of encrypted files Time Court imposed limitations Time limitation of seizure may extend to examination Imaging of hard drive Distance between examination and court Technology changes Respond to crime in real time Finance Should encourage public to devise preventive technology Benefits of investigation High volume, low value offences Donated equipment Skilled examiners Training Private sector Money Sworn in or civilian Tech-lag Juridical boundaries Real time tracing Evidence admissibility Clearing houses Anomalies in law Extradition International treaties Multiple jurisdictions Legislation Storing of Illegal material Admissibility of evidence Hearsay Seizure of equipment Time Chain of custody Documentation Privacy Non sworn in investigators Many thanks, Daniel Heinonen