UK members - Can you HACK it?

Forensic Focus is pleased to support The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a charity which will be familiar to many UK members, especially those involved with child protection issues. The NSPCC's annual HACK (Hike Against Cruelty to Kids) is now in its fifth year and has so far raised over £250,000. After four successful years in the north this summer there are five 25 mile HACKS taking place in some of the most stunning locations across the UK: Yorkshire 5 September, Northern Ireland 5 September, Wales 12 September and Devon 27 September. And just in case you need any further motivation, there's a Forensic Focus T-Shirt for everyone who completes the hike - what more could you ask for?

More details here

Message from Nick Furneaux

Thought it might be useful to reproduce Nick's recent welcome message in the new live/network forensics forum:

"Hi everyone and welcome to the new forum covering Live and Network forensics.

My name is Nick Furneaux from CSITech and if you don't know me or have never sat in a classroom with me, then hello! Jamie has kindly asked if I would assist in the moderation of this forum and I was delighted to accept. If you are truly bored you can waste 90 seconds of your life and find out more about me on my poorly used blog at nickfurneaux.blogspot.com.

In the past 3 years or so the subject of so called live forensics has become an increasingly discussed topic and most investigators now believe that a live response to a running machine constitutes best evidence, often ahead of pulling the plug and continuing with a traditional disk image.

Whereas disk imaging has a certain accepted methodology and protocol associated with it, live response still has the feeling of the Wild West about it and as much work as possible needs to be done by the community to work towards a generally accepted method and process. Hopefully this forum, broken out from the melee of other topics will assist with that process.

This, of course, is not to ignore the vital area of network investigations that tends not to get such a 'following' in respect to forum postings, hopefully that will change.

We are fortunate to have some leading lights in these subjects contributing to Forensic Focus (you know who you are) and we welcome your continued positive contribution and input.

I look forward to reading your ideas, thoughts and comments.

Nick Furneaux"

The original message can be read here.

New forum (Live and Network Forensics) and new moderator

Hi everyone,

We now have a new forum dedicated to live and network forensics (e.g. memory analysis, running process enumeration, network traffic analysis etc.) If you want to discuss something related to volatile data collection before or without pulling the plug then this is the right place.

That's only half the good news. I'm also delighted to announce that Nick Furneaux has agreed to be the moderator of this new forum which is a huge coup for all Forensic Focus members (for a recent interview with Nick, click here.)

Nick joins Greg Smith (our mobile forensics forum moderator) as another highly regarded and influential name in the forensics world willing to share their knowledge and experience in these forums - my thanks to them both!

Jamie

Interview with Graham Brown-Martin, Digital Safety Conference

An interview with Graham Brown-Martin, organiser of the upcoming Digital Safety Conference in London, is now online at http://www.forensicfocus.com/graham-brown-martin-interview-120609

There's a link within the interview to a documentary about the event which inspired Graham to put this conference together, and while there's nothing "technical" in it I think it's worth viewing for the perspective it gives of someone who's been a victim of computer crime (surprisingly, perhaps, something we don't discuss very often at Forensic Focus).

Interview with Lee Whitfield, Forensic 4cast

An interview with Lee Whitfield of Forensic 4cast is now online at http://www.forensicfocus.com/lee-whitfield-interview-100609

It's always interesting to learn more about one of the voices behind a podcast and Lee doesn't disappoint!

Interview with Robert Botchek, President and Founder – Tableau, LLC

An interview with Robert Botchek, President and Founder of Tableau, LLC is now online at http://www.forensicfocus.com/robert-botchek-interview-090609

This is a fairly lengthy interview and Robert goes into a lot of detail in his responses - I highly recommend taking the time to make your way through it, it's well worth it.

Huge thanks to Robert for taking the time to share his thoughts!

Digital Safety Conference, 19th June 2009, London

The inaugural Digital Safety Conference brings together thought leaders, policy makers, legal professionals, law enforcement agencies, government representatives, educators, industry leaders and those committed to protecting civil liberties to consider the health, reputation and environment of the digital world.

Speakers include:

• Tom Watson MP
• Tanya Byron
• Anthony Lilley
• Dr Richard Clayton, Cambridge University
• Dr Tim Watson, De Montfort University
• Prof Mike Short, President, Mobile Data Association
• Hamish Brown, MBE (UK's leading expert on stalking)

Delegate places from £95 (students), education and charities £145 and FF members £170 if using the code dsg via online registration at:

http://www.digitalsafety.com/conference/registration

A supporting television documentary concerning one of the organisers as a case study can be viewed here:

www.digitalsafety.com/cyberstalking

Two men guilty of student murders

So, after five weeks Sonnex and Farmer have been found guilty of the appalling murders of Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo. I was actually at the Old Bailey on the first day of the trial (in the public gallery) and had hoped to return at a later date to see if there was any mobile forensics expert witness testimony - as seemed likely given the use of mobile phones on the date in question - but unfortunately my plans changed and I didn't have the chance. If anyone knows what part this evidence played in the trial please feel free to email me.

Interview with Dr Chris Pamplin, Editor – UK Register of Expert Witnesses

An interview with Dr Chris Pamplin, Editor of the UK Register of Expert Witnesses is now online at http://www.forensicfocus.com/chris-pamplin-interview-310509