Overview#
A financial crimes detective receives a laptop seized from a suspect in an embezzlement case. The suspect claims to have deleted everything before arrest. Within hours, the computer forensics examiner has imaged the drive, verified hash integrity, carved hundreds of deleted files from unallocated clusters, and reconstructed a timeline showing document access, USB transfers, and encrypted archive creation in the days before the arrest. That evidence, preserved with bit-for-bit accuracy and a complete chain of custody, becomes the foundation of the prosecution case.
Computer Forensics and Digital Evidence Analysis gives investigators the tools to do exactly that: acquire storage devices forensically, recover files the suspect believed were gone, reconstruct user activity across every corner of a system, and produce findings that hold up under cross-examination.
Open Standards#
- SHA-256 (FIPS 180-4): Every forensic image acquisition and chain-of-custody event is verified with a SHA-256 cryptographic digest, confirming bit-for-bit integrity of the source evidence.
- Ed25519 (RFC 8032): Each chain-of-custody entry is signed with an Ed25519 private key, producing a tamper-evident digital signature that can be verified against the corresponding public key in court.
- RFC 3161 (Internet X.509 PKI Time-Stamp Protocol): Evidence exports are bound to a trusted timestamp token from a configured TSA, establishing a legally defensible proof of existence at a point in time.
- W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0: Evidence items and custody-transfer events are wrapped in signed Verifiable Credentials (VC DM v2.0) with DID-based issuers, enabling cross-platform provenance verification.
- ISO 19005 PDF/A (Parts 1, 4): Court-ready report packages are exported as PDF/A archival variants (1B, 2B, 3B, or 4F), satisfying long-term preservation requirements used by prosecuting authorities.
- YARA: Malware detection and anti-forensic tool identification use YARA rules integrated through the threat-intelligence layer to flag evidence-destruction attempts on examined systems.
- Exif (JEITA CP-3451 / ISO 12234-2): Image evidence is analysed for embedded Exif metadata including camera model, capture timestamp, and GPS coordinates, all of which are preserved as structured artefact fields.
- MITRE ATT&CK: Malicious artefacts and attacker behaviours identified on examined systems are mapped to MITRE ATT&CK technique identifiers, providing a standardised vocabulary for findings presented to investigators and courts.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-05 Last Updated: 2026-04-14
Key Features#
Forensically Sound Imaging#
Bit-for-bit disk acquisition with cryptographic hash verification and tamper-proof documentation. Write-blocking ensures source evidence is never modified during acquisition. Physical drives, virtual disk images, and remote acquisition scenarios are all supported.
File Recovery#
Advanced deleted file reconstruction covers carved files, slack space analysis, and unallocated cluster recovery. Files a suspect believed permanently deleted can often be recovered even after formatting or partial overwriting, giving investigators access to evidence that seemed out of reach.
Timeline Reconstruction#
Automated chronological analysis combines file system metadata, registry entries, and application artefacts into a single timeline. User activity, file access, application usage, and system events from multiple evidence sources are presented in a clear, investigable sequence.
Registry Deep Analysis#
Windows registry examination reveals user activity, application usage, system configuration history, USB device connections, network access, and program execution evidence. Registry hives and transaction logs contain investigative intelligence that skilled counsel will specifically seek to challenge or use.
Cross-Platform Support#
Analysis covers Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and cloud storage evidence. A unified investigation workspace handles correlation across a subject's complete digital ecosystem regardless of source platform.
Malware Detection#
Automated identification of malicious software, rootkits, and anti-forensic tools. The system detects evidence destruction attempts, encryption tools, and counter-forensic software that subjects may have installed to conceal activity, and flags these findings explicitly for the examiner.
Use Cases#
- Criminal Investigation: Recover evidence from suspect computers including deleted files, internet history, communications, and financial records for prosecution.
- Employee Misconduct: Investigate data theft, policy violations, and unauthorized access through computer activity analysis and file recovery.
- Incident Response: Analyse compromised systems to determine attack vectors, scope of compromise, and data exfiltration during security incidents. Integrates with Volatility3 for memory forensics and Autopsy for structured artefact analysis.
- Intellectual Property Theft: Trace unauthorized copying, transfer, or deletion of proprietary files through timeline reconstruction and file access analysis.
Integration#
Connects with evidence management platforms, case management systems, and forensic laboratory workflows. Integrates with Autopsy, Volatility3, and YARA rules for deep artefact examination. Export findings in standard forensic formats for cross-tool analysis and court presentation. Multi-tenant evidence scoping ensures each case's data remains isolated within its organisational boundary.