Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered, like what really happens to your
Speaker 1: files when you hit delete? Or you know how investigators
Speaker 1: piece together a cybercrime one that maybe seem to just vanish.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to pull back the curtain on this fascinating,
Speaker 1: often hidden world of digital forensics. Our deep dive is
Speaker 1: titled Unlocking Digital Secrets, A Journey into Forensics with Kalie Linux,
Speaker 1: and for this we're drawing insights from a really comprehensive
Speaker 1: guide Digital Forensics with Kylie Linux, second edition by Shivavi
Speaker 1: N Paris Ram. So our mission today is really to
Speaker 1: unpack what digital forensics actually is, why it's become frankly
Speaker 1: indispensable now, and also how specialized tools, particularly those in
Speaker 1: Kylie Linux, act like these powerful magnifying classes, you know,
Speaker 1: revealing stuff you might not even know existed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually remarkable how this field, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: relatively young, right, but it's had to evolve at well
Speaker 2: lightning speed just to keep pace with how complex our
Speaker 2: digital lives have become, and unfortunately with the digital crimes
Speaker 2: we face, which are getting more sophisticated all the time.
Speaker 2: It's really not just about getting data back, it's about
Speaker 2: scientifically reconstructing events, proving integrity, and ultimately, you know, finding
Speaker 2: the truth, the truth hidden in the bits and bites.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's jump right in then, what exactly is
Speaker 1: digital forensics because honestly it sounds like something straight out.
Speaker 2: Of a movie hete Well, it kind of is sometimes,
Speaker 2: But at its core, digital forensics is the scientific process.
Speaker 2: It's about preserving, acquiring, documenting, analyzing, and interpreting evidence, any
Speaker 2: evidence found in a digital format. But like you hinted,
Speaker 2: it's not just laptops and phones anymore, not by a
Speaker 2: long shot. It extends to data flying across networks, emails,
Speaker 2: corporate espionage cases, even all those smart IoT devices everywhere.
Speaker 2: It's a science. It de mend's really rigorous, repeatable methods,
Speaker 2: methods that ensure findings can actually stand up in court.
Speaker 2: That's why these international guidelines like the ACPO Good Practice
Speaker 2: Guide or the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, they're so vital.
Speaker 2: They set the standards, keep things consistent.
Speaker 1: It really is striking how new this all is, especially
Speaker 1: when you compared to say, traditional forensic science fingerprinting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been around for over a century.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, indeed, I mean the FBI set up its
Speaker 2: first forensic lab way back in nineteen thirty two, but
Speaker 2: digital forensics that really only started gaining traction after PCs
Speaker 2: became common. You know, in the nineteen eighties, the FBI's
Speaker 2: specialist team KART Computer Analysis and Response Team that was
Speaker 2: formed in eighty four, they were kind of leading the charge,
Speaker 2: and the first big international conference to even discuss standards
Speaker 2: that wasn't until nineteen ninety three. So yeah, it's field
Speaker 2: that's constantly constantly playing ketchup, adapting incredibly fast. Makes it
Speaker 2: one of the most dynamic areas out there in.
Speaker 1: This catchup game. It feels more critical now than ever before.
Speaker 1: It doesn't. It'shebercrime seems like it's just everywhere.
Speaker 2: Precisely, the speed of technology advancement is just staggering.
Speaker 3: Think about it.
Speaker 2: Tiny little SD cards holding terabytes, super fast fiber internet,
Speaker 2: powerful GPUs, driving AI. All this opens up countless new
Speaker 2: avenues for cybercrime, ransomware, dos attacks, identity theft, stuff on
Speaker 2: the dark way. You know Moore's law about computing power doubling,
Speaker 2: it's still pretty much relevant, but the whole landscape keeps shifting,
Speaker 2: which yeah, raises that big question with so much digital
Speaker 2: information out there and so many ways to hide it,
Speaker 2: where do investigators even start? How do you untangle that mess?
Speaker 1: And it's not just criminals finding new ways to attack, right,
Speaker 1: there's this whole anti forensics thing too, like technique specifically
Speaker 1: designed to mess up investigations, actively trying to make evidence
Speaker 1: just boof disappear exactly.
Speaker 2: That adds a whole other layer of difficulty, a significant layer.
Speaker 2: We're dealing with sophisticated encryption tools like true crypt or
Speaker 2: BitLocker or VPNs built not to log user activity, basically
Speaker 2: masking digital footprints. Even you know, modern SSDs they have
Speaker 2: this trim technology. It deletes data way more efficiently than
Speaker 2: old magnetic hard drives. All this makes recovering information much
Speaker 2: much harder. It's a constant battle really concealment versus discovery,
Speaker 2: high stakes.
Speaker 1: Okay, so beyond this like digital battlefield, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the data itself. Where does it actually live and how
Speaker 1: does it's low cation its address change the game from
Speaker 1: an investigator, because it seems like it's not as simple
Speaker 1: as just looking at a hard drive anymore.
Speaker 2: No, you're absolutely right, it's way past that. We've come
Speaker 2: a really long way from that old one point four
Speaker 2: to four milibit ploppy disk. Huh. Today it's SSDs, solid
Speaker 2: state drives, and well, the vastness of cloud storage, and
Speaker 2: each new thing introduces new challenges like cloud storage super convenient, right,
Speaker 2: but it means investigators often don't have direct physical access
Speaker 2: to the servers. That really complicates getting the data. I mean,
Speaker 2: think back historically, magnetic tape like IBM used. Modern cartridges
Speaker 2: hold what thirty terabytes compressed, But imagine the forensic challenge
Speaker 2: of acquiring that much data from a sequential tape compared
Speaker 2: to the instant access of an SSD and optical media CDs,
Speaker 2: blu rays. They all have different lasers, different ways of
Speaker 2: storing data. Each presents its own hurdles for extraction. The
Speaker 2: media really dictates the method you have to use.
Speaker 1: So beyond the physical hardware, there's the logical side too.
Speaker 1: File systems, how data exists in them? A file it's
Speaker 1: really gone when we hit delete, because I always have
Speaker 1: this feeling they're just lingering somewhere. Huh.
Speaker 2: That feeling is totally spot on. Data exists in different states,
Speaker 2: right in transit, in use, or at rest. When you
Speaker 2: delete a file, often it just gets marked as unallocated.
Speaker 2: The operating system basically just says, okay, this space is
Speaker 2: free now, But the actual data bit for bit, it's
Speaker 2: usually still there until something new overwrites it. And that's
Speaker 2: where slack space comes in. It's the unused bit of
Speaker 2: a data cluster. Crucial hidden info can hang out there,
Speaker 2: often totally unintentionally. But maybe the most volatile and often
Speaker 2: overlooked source of critical evidence. It's the paging file or
Speaker 2: swap file on your hard disk. Think of it like
Speaker 2: your hard drives secret notepad. It mirrors what's in your
Speaker 2: active memory, your RAM. And here's the kicker. It can
Speaker 2: silently store stuff like unencrypted passwords or bits of sensitive
Speaker 2: documents long after you've closed the application. It's like a
Speaker 2: digital ghost of your activity, just hiding there in plain sight.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is an incredible revelation which brings us to
Speaker 1: this idea of data volatility. Like some evidence is basically
Speaker 1: a ticking time bomb, ready to disappear this second you
Speaker 1: look away.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, rant or Maxus memory is incredibly volatile, super transient.
Speaker 2: Any data in RAM is just gone the moment you
Speaker 2: cut the power poof. That's why digital investigators follow a
Speaker 2: really strict order of volatility. You have to collect the
Speaker 2: most fleeting data first. Usually that order goes RAM, then
Speaker 2: running processes, active network connections, system settings, and then the
Speaker 2: less volatile storage media like hard drives. I actually remember
Speaker 2: in an early case, the suspects swore they'd wipe their
Speaker 2: phone clean, but just pulling the battery out slightly too
Speaker 2: slowly it actually preserved a fragment of a key message
Speaker 2: in some hidden cash ended up being crucial evidence. Really
Speaker 2: drove home how every second, every tiny detail matters in
Speaker 2: this field.
Speaker 1: Okay, So with all these complexities, what tools do investigators
Speaker 1: actually have in their arsenal And where does something like
Speaker 1: Collie linux fit in Because most people know it for
Speaker 1: like ethical hacking, penetration testing, but forensics too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kalie linux is a fa fascinating example because you're right,
Speaker 2: it is widely known for pen testing, but it's also
Speaker 2: this incredibly powerful and importantly freely available platform, and it's
Speaker 2: packed with open source forensic tools. Its live forensic mode
Speaker 2: is particularly crucial for investigators. What it does is it
Speaker 2: disables things like automounting drives, and it avoids writing to
Speaker 2: the swap file. Basically, it ensures the original evidence stays pristine, untouched,
Speaker 2: forensically sound. Now, sure there are robust commercial alternatives out there,
Speaker 2: but Collie offers this community supported, cost effective, and seriously
Speaker 2: capable suite makes advance forensics much more accessible.
Speaker 1: Right, So, once an investigator gets hold of a device,
Speaker 1: how do they make absolutely sure they get an exact
Speaker 1: copy without changing the original And then how do they
Speaker 1: prove its integrity later? That sounds like a really delicate operation.
Speaker 3: Well it is, and it's absolutely foundational. It's the very first,
Speaker 3: most critical step. We use something called right blockers. These
Speaker 3: can be specialized hardware devices or sometimes software. The only
Speaker 3: job is to prevent any data, absolutely anything from being
Speaker 3: written back to the original evidence drive protects it. Then
Speaker 3: we create what are called bitstream copies or physical images.
Speaker 3: Think of them as perfect bit for bit duplicates of
Speaker 3: the original drive or storage medium. Now, to prove this
Speaker 3: copy is identical, we use cryptographic hashing algorithms, things like
Speaker 3: SHA two five six. You can think of these hashes
Speaker 3: as unique digital fingerprints for data. And here's a pretty
Speaker 3: compelling example. If you change just one single character, say
Speaker 3: you remove the K from Kalie Linux in a sentence,
Speaker 3: the entire digital fingerprint, the hash value will change completely dramatically.
Speaker 3: It's like changing one tiny pixel in a huge complex image.
Speaker 3: The whole code identifying that image becomes unrecognizable. So this instant,
Speaker 3: drastic change immediately flags any tampering. That's why tools that
Speaker 3: do this are vital for forensically sound acquisition and this
Speaker 3: whole meticulous process, this digital fingerprinting.
Speaker 2: It leads right into another critical concept, the chain of custody,
Speaker 2: because if you can't prove step by step that the
Speaker 2: evidence hasn't been touched or altered for the moment it
Speaker 2: was collected, it's basically worthless in court.
Speaker 1: Wow, okay, that's an incredibly robust way to ensure integrity.
Speaker 1: Seriously impressive. But what about those deleted files you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: or you know, pulling specific little bits of information out
Speaker 1: of a huge mountain of data. You can just scroll
Speaker 1: through everything manually, can you? That would take forever?
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. You never find anything that way. This
Speaker 2: is where tools for filecarbon come in. Tools like Foremost
Speaker 2: or Scalpel. You can think of them as digital archaeologists.
Speaker 2: They reconstruct files directly from the unallocated space on a drive.
Speaker 2: They do this by recognizing the unique headers and footers,
Speaker 2: the start and end markers of different file types, even
Speaker 2: if the file system information is gone. And then there's
Speaker 2: bulk extractor that takes it a step further. It's specifically
Speaker 2: designed to just hoover up certain types of artifacts, things
Speaker 2: like credit card numbers, email addresses, URLs, social media IDs
Speaker 2: directly from raw unstructured data, like a digital vacuum cleaner
Speaker 2: for specific clues.
Speaker 1: Okay, and what about the really tricky stuff, the most
Speaker 1: volatile data, the contents of memory itself. How on earth
Speaker 1: do you even begin to analyze something that disappears so quickly? Right?
Speaker 2: Memory analysis for that, The open source Volatility framework is
Speaker 2: well incredibly powerful, really the standard it analyzes memory dumps,
Speaker 2: basically snapshots of a system's live RAM at a specific moment,
Speaker 2: and from that snapshot it can reveal a surprising amount
Speaker 2: of information, things like running processes, even hidden ones, active
Speaker 2: network connections at that moment, what DLLs those shared bits
Speaker 2: of code programs use, were loaded, registry changes. It can
Speaker 2: even sometimes attempt to dump passwords that might have been
Speaker 2: sitting in memory, maybe unencrypted for a split second. It's
Speaker 2: also a major tool for malware analysis. For instance, it
Speaker 2: was absolutely instrumental in analyzing the wantacry ransomware attack. Investigators
Speaker 2: use it to pinpoint the malicious processes, figure out how
Speaker 2: they launched, all within an infected system's memory dump.
Speaker 1: That's a really powerful example. But thinking about something like
Speaker 1: wantacrime is a fast moving attack where time is absolutely critical.
Speaker 1: How quickly can investigators actually get to that memory dump
Speaker 1: and analyze it before crucial evidence has gone or maybe encrypted. Further,
Speaker 1: what are the real world challenges?
Speaker 2: There's a yeah, that's a critical question, and it really
Speaker 2: highlights the constant race against time in live forensics. The
Speaker 2: challenge is immense Honestly.
Speaker 3: You need to.
Speaker 2: Spot an infection fast, physically secure the machine if possible,
Speaker 2: then initiate a memory dump without causing more data loss
Speaker 2: or importantly triggering any anti forensic measures the malware might have.
Speaker 2: And then you have to get that dump, which can
Speaker 2: be huge over to the analysis tools, all potentially within
Speaker 2: minutes or maybe hours. Specialized live acquisition tools are definitely
Speaker 2: key here, but even with those, the sheer volume and
Speaker 2: the volatility of RAM, you're often just capturing a snapshot.
Speaker 2: Every single second counts. It's exactly why having good preparation
Speaker 2: and rapid response protocols in place is so so vital
Speaker 2: for organizations.
Speaker 1: Makes sense. So if you're trying to figure out, say,
Speaker 1: who's on your network, what systems they're using, or maybe
Speaker 1: dig into specific activities on a Linux machine, there's specific
Speaker 1: tools for that too, right, it really sounds like a
Speaker 1: complete digital detective GIT for pretty much every scenario.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's a tool for almost everything. For networks, tools
Speaker 2: like pos can passively figure out operating systems and devices
Speaker 2: just by watching traffic, doesn't have to interact directly, whereas
Speaker 2: something like end map actively stands the network looking for
Speaker 2: open ports, services, potential vulnerabilities more direct and for Linux
Speaker 2: systems specifically, yeah, tools like swapdigger can actually delt into
Speaker 2: that swap file we talked about, looking for things like
Speaker 2: system passwords or Wi Fi credentials left behind. Mimi Penguin
Speaker 2: is designed to try and dump passwords directly from live
Speaker 2: memory processes on Linux. These tools let investigators piece together
Speaker 2: a digital presence, reconstruct activity, often with startling precision.
Speaker 1: Okay, but given the sheer volume of data we're talking about,
Speaker 1: are there tools that can help pull all these different
Speaker 1: pieces together? You manage everything and present it in a
Speaker 1: coherent way, because doing all this manually just seems impossible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally possible for any complex case. That's exactly where
Speaker 2: automated digital forensics suites come into play. Autopsy is a
Speaker 2: great example. It's basically a graphical user interface a GUI,
Speaker 2: built on top of another set of powerful command line
Speaker 2: tools called the sleuth kit. Think of it as an
Speaker 2: all in one workbench. It helps with case management, detailed
Speaker 2: file analysis, recovering deleted files. It can create timelines of
Speaker 2: file activity, handle hashing for integrity checks, and generate comprehensive reports.
Speaker 2: It really helps make sense of the chaos. It can
Speaker 2: even use hash databases, lists of known file fingerprints to
Speaker 2: quickly identify known good files like system files, or known
Speaker 2: bad files like malware. Speeds things up tremendously, Right.
Speaker 1: Makes sense? And what about network traffic? That's got to
Speaker 1: be a huge source of information these days with so
Speaker 1: much happening online.
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Network forensics is a highly specialized field and it's
Speaker 2: increasingly critical. Tools like Sheplico fall into a category called
Speaker 2: Network Forensics Analysis tools or nfa ts. What they do
Speaker 2: is take raw packet capture files often created by tools
Speaker 2: like the famous wire Shark and automatically decode them turn
Speaker 2: them into human readable stuff, so it can show you websites, visited, email,
Speaker 2: sent and received voiceover IP calls, even reconstruct chats from
Speaker 2: social media. Other tools like Network Minor or pcap x
Speaker 2: ray offer more visual ways to analyze network traffic. They
Speaker 2: can help identify potentially malicious communications, maybe covert channels, and
Speaker 2: provide these visual maps showing how different devices were interacting.
Speaker 2: And fundamentally, all these network tools just reinforce that one
Speaker 2: crucial truth in today's world. Pretty much every digital interaction
Speaker 2: leaves some kind of traice, and with the right tools
Speaker 2: and expertise, those trails can usually be followed, no matter
Speaker 2: how faint they seem.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, we have covered a lot today, seriously, from
Speaker 1: the earliest floppy disks up to massive SSDs, from hidden
Speaker 1: slack space to the really volatile secrets hiding and ramp
Speaker 1: and we went through this whole arsenal of tools designed
Speaker 1: to uncover digital truth. Thinking back on all this, what
Speaker 1: really stands out to you from this deep dive.
Speaker 2: If I had to pick one thing, it's the incredible
Speaker 2: resilience of data, the fact that it often persists even
Speaker 2: when you think it's completely gone. This field is a
Speaker 2: constant reminder that every click, every file saved or deleted,
Speaker 2: every network packet sent, it leaves a footprint, a digital
Speaker 2: footprint waiting to be found. And the advancements we see
Speaker 2: in digital forensics they're really a testament to human ingenuity,
Speaker 2: our ability to keep developing ways to find truth in
Speaker 2: the face of these ever evolving digital threats. It really
Speaker 2: is this continuous, high stakes game between those trying to
Speaker 2: hide information and those trying to reveal it.
Speaker 1: So what does this all mean for you listening right now? Well,
Speaker 1: maybe next time you hit delete, just remember the digital
Speaker 1: world is kind of like a bilympsyst You know, those
Speaker 1: old manuscripts where text was scraped off but traces remained.
Speaker 1: It's layers upon layers of information, often hidden right there
Speaker 1: in plain sight. And digital forensics it isn't just about
Speaker 1: catching criminals. It's also about understanding the profound, often really
Speaker 1: unexpected permanence of our own digital actions. Just thinking about
Speaker 1: that might make you approach your online life a little differently.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us on this deep
Speaker 1: dive into digital forensics. We really hope you've gained a
Speaker 1: new appreciation for this hidden world of data and the
Speaker 1: dedicated work investigators do. We'll see you next time.