The legal and technical expertise in computer forensics is enough specific and require knowledge on a precised detailed niche field, that most of the experts apply to trainings even much after their formation period is over. The exclusivity is also the key of this domain, since there are no universal recipes and the particular cases to be solved require a limited, distinctive spectrum of activities and procedures that are to take place in order for the investigation to be both available in court and meaningful for solving the case.
It is, indeed, required that you have a very good understanding of Windows operating system. The technical knowledge and experience must be good enough to assure you the comprehension of the computer forensic investigations.
The reason for which these trainings are held, as well as the purposes they serve are, as it follows, either getting the technical know-how or the specific knowledge for activaing inside a Computer Security Incident Response Team. This should also help acknowledge the necessary management and operating information to handle a successful forensic investigation, even when unexpected incidents occur in the pro-cess, by using specific tools and data information available in the systems.
The topics that may be covered during the forensic investigation trainings are also varied. The Law and Justice field assures the theorecal knowledge and the frame inside which the processes can take place, related to the search and seizure of the investigation, online and offline, involving the computer networks and the data that can be analyzed. The computer access and termination policies have to be known as well, in order for the investigation to be taken into consideration in court.
A computer security incident response team must be also trained to supervise the investigations as well. Along with this frame, the software is also highly important. The devices, tools, techniques and equipments that are supposed to be used differently, according to the specific of the investigation can as well be the topic of a training series.
The parts of the investigation processes are also important being well known, they constituting a training topic in itself. The assessment of the incident has to be followed by data acquirement and data analysis before the final written investigation report is made. As the collected data is vital in every investigation, data loss prevention is also important, at least on a basic level, as well as the monitoring, computer activity usage software or the mitigation tools.
The processes and operations including data are also trained, for someone who wants to initiate a computer forensic investigation. The compulsory knowledge includes hard drive image analysis (for all files, deleted files, exported files, data in slack, swap filing), as well as collecting and analyzing data through running and post mortem Windows operating system investigations. The entire system, with its memory, registry and file system can knowledge can also be improved following the trainings in the field.
Trainings have been held on event logging and associated log files inside the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on router, firewall, mailing servers and intrusion detection system logs. The log files, depending on the size limit set for the file and the duration of the logging event, can contain thousand of text entries. Their proper interpretation and usage inside a forensic investigation procedure can be learned by any forensic specialist after a training session. The accuracy of the interpretation can have a huge word to say in the final report of the computer forensic investigation, which is why a larger number of investigators apply for it every year.
