Discussion Board 1 – Digital Forensic Lab Set Up
As the newly hired Digital Forensic Manager of the Liberty Corporation, I have been
tasked with purchasing new forensic hardware, software, and write-blockers for the new digital
forensics’ lab. After extensive research, I have found to be what I believe would be the best
option for the Liberty Corporation and the following is my recommendation based on
performance abilities and price. My first consideration when researching the right equipment was
the size of the corporation and the type of work that will be performed. Judging as if the Liberty
Corporation is not a large governmental agency and that the majority of the work being
performed will be internal dealing with employee termination cases, internet and email abuse
investigations, attorney-client privilege investigations, and if anything more serious such as
industrial espionage investigations, I have narrowed down the hardware and software needed for
the new digital forensics lab.
“The basic idea behind forensic hardware is to facilitate the forensic transfer of digital
evidence from one device to another as quickly as possible,” [ CITATION Cyb19 \l 1033 ].
With this in mind, my hardware recommendation (in addition to the basics of computer
operation such as monitors, keyboards, mice, cords and so on) on what to purchase for the
Liberty Corporation would be a minimum of two Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device
(FRED) forensic workstations. These workstations come from a company called Digital
Intelligence and have wide-ranging capabilities. Pulling directly from the products description
block,
“FRED systems are purpose-built with top-quality, leading-edge, proven technology
optimized for digital forensics and eDiscovery work. Highly integrated and flexible,
FREDs are built with the processing power and storage needed to run modern industry-
standard software applications. FRED systems also include a number of exclusive system
components such as the Digital Intelligence UltraBay 4d Write Blocker and the Digital
Intelligence Ventilated Imaging Shelf,” [ CITATION Dig20 \l 1033 ].
The FRED forensic workstations join “just about every available interface into one convenient
workstation so that you don’t have to connect and disconnect a toolbox full of interfaces,” and
another important and particular reason I chose the FRED forensic workstation is that they
feature collections of software packages that can come preloaded if requested [ CITATION
Cyb19 \l 1033 ]. This is a huge plus, as all the software that will be needed will come already as
part of the FRED workstation. The prices of these workstations vary depending on particulars
chosen, however, they can range from $6,300 to over $20,000.
Software that I found to be necessary for the day to day duties of the digital forensics
team at the Liberty Corporation would include EnCase and Forensic ToolKit (FTK). EnCase is a
software program sold by Guidance Software that is used as the golden standard in countless
organizations for almost any computer forensic investigation [ CITATION Cyb19 \l 1033 ].
EnCase allows investigators to quickly perform triage evidence searches, perform collections of
evidence, helps decrypt files quickly, processes routine actions for more focus on the
investigation itself, and provides tailors reports allowing cases to be met and reported by the
company’s specific needs, [ CITATION Ope19 \l 1033 ]. This software is priced around $3,700.
FTK, created by AccessData is easy to use and has automated the hard, behind-the-scenes work
of setting up searches, [ CITATION Cyb19 \l 1033 ]. The software ranges around $5,400.
Choosing the FRED workstation would be a smart decision as the majority of what will
be needed between software and hardware is already combined into one and includes write-
blockers as well. Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,”
(CSB) and just as God laid His foundation for His work to come, as a digital forensic manager,
it
would be my duty to lay a good foundation in the hardware and software chosen in order to
allow for continued growth and prosperity.
References
CyberSecurityMag. (2019, March 2). 10 Best Tools for Computer Forensics. Retrieved from
cybersecuritymag.com: https://cybersecuritymag.com/computer-forensics-tools/
Digital Intelligence. (2020, January 16). FRED Forensic Workstation. Retrieved from
DigitalIntelligence.com: https://digitalintelligence.com/store/products/fred?taxon_id=75
OpenText Corp. (2019, January 16). EnCase Forensic. Retrieved from
guidancesoftware.com: https://www.guidancesoftware.com/encase-forensic
