Forensic 4cast - Welcome to the world of digital and computer forensics.

Simon was allowed a week off, now I have to concede and say sorry to everyone.  Last week our kids were sick and, inevitably it was passed on to myself. Oh joy!

I spent a night camped out in the bathroom, scared to move more than a few feet away, if at all.

But don’t be worried, Simon and I will actually be recording a new episode in just a few days time, this time we’ll both be at the same desk, at the same computer so the sound quality should be the best yet (pity about the content).

Oh, by the way.  I’m thinking about running a small advert on the site.  This would mainly be for purchasing items for competitions and the like.  Give me your feedback about it.

I am please to announce that episode 6 is available for your listening pleasure.

In this episode we discuss virtual vigilanteeism.  Is it a blessing or a curse when these vigilantes get involved?

We would really like to hear about your first hand experiences of the laws requiring forensic investigators to be registered private investigators, how has it affected you?  Please drop us an email at 4cast@whitfields.org or leave a comment on the web page at http://www.forensic4cast.com.

I made mention of the internet archive the link is right here: http://web.archive.org

 

 Forensic 4cast Episode 6 [45:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So, Simon’s mouth has a big hole in it, but he feels well enough to do a podcast so we’ll hopefully do one on Sunday for release on Monday morning.  It should be an interesting one…

I want to talk about virtual vigilanteeism, among other things.

I also owe a couple of apologies.

Don’t miss it.

I’m sorry to say that we are not able to do an episode of Forensic 4cast tonight. Simon visited the dentist today and has been feeling a little worse for wear.
Once Simon has recovered enough we’ll record another episode.
Thanks for your patience.

Thanks to Jamie from Forensic Focus who pointed out my mistake in episode 3.  I wrongfully stated that Brian Carrier did PTK and Jamie has corrected me in saying that Dario Forte (founder of DFLabs) is the main man behind it instead.

Sorry for the mistake, I do get confused from time to time and will likely need correcting in the future.

A link to Forensic Focus can be found in the column to the left.

Here is the fifth episode of Forensic 4cast.

In this episode we discuss the sweet taste of RevEnge.  We also answer some questions posted by our good listeners.

Please look out for Simon’s Wii Fit video on YouTube.

If you have any comments please post them here.

 

 Forensic 4cast Episode 5 [56:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here is episode 4 of the podcast.  This week Lee and Simon talk about, amongst other random things, rebellion in the state of Texas, cold boot attacks, Truecrypt vulnerabilities, and Julie Amero.

The link to the cold bot attack source code is found here: http://citp.princeton.edu/memory/code/.

We’re going to look at some of the comments and emails we’ve had so far next week so please, if you have any comments or questions, please let us know.

 

 Forensic 4cast Episode 4 [48:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Simon and Lee recorded a new episode of forensic 4cast last night, it will be available for download sometime later today!!!

We’d love to hear from anyone who cares to say anything about digital forensics.  If you have comments or questions you can either add comments to our posts or email 4cast@whitfields.org

We have set up a LinkedIn group.  Look for it in the next couple of days, once its been approved.

You can also follow us on Twitter.

Episode 3.1 of the podcast is still available on this site and via iTunes.

This is no doubt the first of many experiments in the name of Forensic 4Cast. It really depends on what other strange stuff I may feel like doing in the future.

This first experiment involves an already broken hard drive, an inkjet refill syringe, and a carbonated drink. I think you know where I’m going with this!

First of all I took an old Western Digital hard drive of a standard PATA connection. This hard drive had an issue regarding dodgy jumper pins, meaning when connected to a computer it would not recognise any PATA devices at all.n Rather than fix it, I thought I’d play around a little bit.

I remember reading somewhere that an interesting way of rendering a hard drive unusable was to inject a soft drink into the air hole, sticking together the mechanisms, and allowing the carbonation of the drink to wear away at the platters. I thought I’d give it a try.

Having prepared my drink and syringe, and taken “before” pictures, I injected a carbonated pineapple and grapefruit drink (hoping citric acid would have an affect too) into the air hole.

I next left the hard drive to marinade in this drink overnight, and checked it the next day.

I expected to find some kind of damage, and maybe a slight sheen taken off the platters of the hard drive. To my disappointment, other than being much wetter than the day before, nothing else had changed. I don’t know what I was expecting really, but I hoped for something interesting.

Nonetheless, I took my “after” pictures, and I am left wondering what effect the drink actually had on the data held on the hard drive. I would still fancy my chances of recovering something from the disk if the correct machinery was available. As it isn’t the hard drive is sat soggy and unworking in my kitchen.

Anyone want a slightly damp, rattling paperweight?

Following shortly is a video of the experiment.

I know its been a while.  Thanks for your patience.

This week Simon and Lee discuss an absurd law in Texas, greedy Private I’s, PTK, and Simon has a story about a lucky teenager.

 

 Forensic 4cast Episode 3.1 [41:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download