Keywords

Computer crimes -- Investigation, Forensic sciences, Virtual computer systems

Abstract

This research paper discusses the role of virtual environments in digital forensic investigations. With virtual environments becoming more prevalent as an analysis tool in digital forensic investigations, it’s becoming more important for digital forensic investigators to understand the limitation and strengths of virtual machines. The study aims to expose limitations within commercial closed source virtual machines and open source virtual machines. The study provides a brief overview of history digital forensic investigations and virtual environments, and concludes with an experiment with four common open and closed source virtual machines; the effects of the virtual machines on the host machine as well as the performance of the virtual machine itself. My findings discovered that while the open source tools provided more control and freedom to the operator, the closed source tools were more stable and consistent in their operation. The significance of these findings can be further researched by applying them in the context of exemplifying reliability of forensic techniques when presented as analysis tool used in litigation.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Lang, Sheau-Dong

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Degree Program

Digital Forensics; Science/Computing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004152

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004152

Language

English

Release Date

December 2011

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering and Computer Science -- Dissertations, Academic

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