Author: Lee Whitfield

  • The Long and Winding Road to Nowhere

    For those of you that know me personally, I try very hard to not minimize other people’s work and accomplishments. In fact, I revel in others’ joy when they achieve things. So, this post will be somewhat out of character for me. I’ve been conducting forensic investigations for around fourteen years. During that time I’ve…

  • Forensic 4:cast Awards 2019 – Voting is Now Open

    Hello everyone. It’s that magical time of the year once more. The nominations have been counted and the final, privileged few have made it to the voting round. Few of things I need to address: I dropped a category. Very few nominations were cast in the Threat Intel category, so I decided to let that…

  • Updates to the RecentDocs Key in Windows 10

    I’ve been revisiting things in Windows 10 recently. We’ve seen a few things change that we have taken for granted in previous versions so I’ve been investigating things. In my most recent efforts, I’ve come to the RecentDocs key in the Windows registry. For those that are unaware, this key lies in each user’s NTUSER.DAT…

  • Forensic 4:cast Awards 2019 – Nominations are Open

    I’m pleased to announce that the nominations for the 2019 Forensic 4:cast Awards are now open! I’ve been playing with some of the categories. Some have been merged, new categories have been included, and some of the voting methods have changed. Please see below for the updated categories. Note that awards will be announced at…

  • 2019 Forensic 4:cast Awards – Coming Soon

    January is that special time of year when a jolly old Englishman opens the nominations for the Forensic 4:cast awards. Nothing is changing in that regard, but changes to the awards themselves are definitely coming. Here’s what’s going to be different this year… Nominations – The nomination process will largely stay the same. The only…

  • Gamble? Not with your future.

    Honestly, I’ve never been big into gambling. The closest I’ve come is buying a lottery ticket when I was 18. While I understand the excitement, the science, and compulsion, it has just never been a huge draw for me personally. There are many things that fall into the category of gambling. You can choose to…

  • Changes to the Forensic 4:cast Awards

    In June we held the tenth annual Forensic 4:cast Awards. This also signaled the ninth year of us holding the awards at the SANS DFIR Summit. After the awards in June I felt somewhat discouraged that many of the awards went unclaimed. I asked for suggestions on how to best improve the awards (see here: https://forensic4cast.com/2018/06/future-of-the-forensic-4cast-awards/).…

  • Future of the Forensic 4:cast Awards

    Fear cripples us. It stops us from making decisions, leaving us in limbo. I have fears about the Forensic 4:cast Awards and, after 10 years of the awards, I’m ready to tackle those fears and improve them. I’m sure that SANS will release the video of the awards in due time and, when it does,…

  • Forensic 4:cast Awards 2018 – Voting is Open

    The nominations have been tallied (sorry for the lateness, life is very busy) and the nominees have been decided. They are as follows: Computer Forensics Software of the Year Magnet Axiom/IEF Belkasoft Evidence Center X-Ways Forensic Digital Forensic Blog of the Year Forensic Focus Blog Murphy’s Laws of Digital Forensics This Week in 4n6 Phone…

  • Forensic 4:cast Awards 2018 – Nominations are Now Open

    If you don’t know anything about the Forensic 4:cast Awards, where have you been for the past nine years? Every year we celebrate the achievements of digital forensic investigators around the world by giving awards to those that have been deemed as worthy by their peers. There is no advisory panel, no interference in the…