Episode 5 – Forensication

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.

Episode 4 – Ups and downs

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.

New episode later today!

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.

Things Not to Do to a Hard Drive Part 1

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.

Episode 3.1

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.

And… We’re back!

All I can do is offer my apologies once again.  I’ve had to send my Mac off for repairs, then my audio equipment went all weird.  We actually recorded an episode only to play it back and find that there was so much noise that it wasn’t worth adding to the feed.

Anyway, we’re planning on recording again before the weekend is out and this time it’ll work flawlessly (keep your fingers crossed).  We’ve got loads of ideas for future episodes and will start to add stuff to the podcast other than just a review of the latest forensic news.  Please stay tuned.