Digital Evidence
Definition
Any information of probative value stored or transmitted in binary form. Latent, volatile in part, easily altered, and admissible only if integrity is provable through hashes and chain of custody.
Related terms
- Bit-Stream Image
- Sector-by-sector exact copy of a storage medium, including unallocated and slack space. Created with dd, FTK Imager, EnCase or X-Ways. Output formats:...
- BSA 2023 Section 63 Certificate
- Mandatory certificate accompanying any electronic record produced as secondary evidence in Indian court. Replaces IEA Section 65B from 1 July 2024. Signed...
- Computer Forensics
- Application of investigative and analytical techniques to identify, preserve, acquire, examine and present digital evidence in a legally defensible manner. Five-stage pipeline:...
- Faraday Bag
- A signal-blocking pouch with conductive mesh lining that prevents cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC signals from reaching a seized phone. The standard...
- Hash Value
- A fixed-length digital fingerprint produced by running a file through a cryptographic algorithm such as SHA-256 or MD5. Identical files produce identical...
- Order of Volatility
- The sequence in which digital evidence should be collected, ranked from most to least transient. Defined in RFC 3227. CPU registers and...
- Volatile Evidence
- Data that exists only while a system is running: active processes, logged-in sessions, network socket state, decryption keys in memory, and command...
- Write Blocker
- A hardware or software device interposed between a digital storage medium and the forensic workstation that prevents any write commands from reaching...
Explained in
- Computer Forensics: Cyber Crimes, Digital Evidence, Seizure and AcquisitionAny information of probative value stored or transmitted in binary form. Latent, volatile in part, easily altered, and admissible only if integrity is provable...