Month: September 2006

Currently Reading: Counter Hack Reloaded (2nd Edition)

counter_hack I’ve just hit page 302 of Counter Hack Reloaded: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses (2nd Edition) and I must say that this is one of the few books on ‘hacking’ that has kept my interest. I’ve read similar books in the past but none have actually been written in a manner that keeps the reader wanting to read cover-to-cover instead of using the book for reference material. I’ll post a full review when I’m done.

Interim Rating – 4/5 Stars

Live View

Live View is a Java-based graphical forensics tool that creates a VMware virtual machine out of a raw (dd-style) disk image or physical disk. This allows the forensic examiner to “boot up” the image or disk and gain an interactive, user-level perspective of the environment, all without modifying the underlying image or disk. Because all changes made to the disk are written to a separate file, the examiner can instantly revert all of his or her changes back to the original pristine state of the disk. The end result is that one need not create extra “throw away” copies of the disk or image to create the virtual machine.

Live View is capable of booting

* Full disk raw images
* Bootable partition raw images
* Physical Disks (attached via a USB or Firewire bridge)

Containing the following operating systems

* Windows XP, 2000, 2003, NT, Me, 98
* Linux (limited support)

Behind the scenes, Live View automates a wide array of technical tasks. Some of these include: resolving hardware conflicts resulting from booting on hardware other than that on which the OS was originally installed; creating a customized MBR for partition-only images; and correctly specifying a virtual disk to match the original image or physical disk.

Draft Special Publication 800-101, Guidelines on Cell Phone Forensics

The draft NIST Special Publication 800-101, Guidelines on Cell Phone Forensics, is available for public comment. The guide outlines general principles and provides technical information intended to aid organizations evolve appropriate policies and procedures for preserving, acquiring, and examining digital evidence found on cell phones. Computer forensic specialists and members of the law enforcement community are encouraged to provide feedback on all or part of the document.

NIST requests submission of public comments on the draft on or before September 29, 2006. Comments may be sent to SP800-101@nist.gov.

Adobe PDF (1,289 KB)
Zipped PDF (1,005 KB)

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