Terminology

Before we get too stuck into the nuts and bolts of digital forensic investigation lets take a moment to talk about the sort of terminology you are going to see throughout this book. As with any subject, digital forensics has its own arcane terms - and often redefines existing words to other meanings.

Helpful Hint!
Wikipedia has related information at Glossary of digital forensics terms

You can find a more complete Glossary in the appendices.

Head in the game

The first thing to do before diving any further into the book is to get acquainted with the idea of technical terminology - digital forensic analysts will use a lot of the standard computer technology terms/slang. Being familiar with acronyms like RAM and OS is important, as is familiarity with things like "bits" and "bytes".

This book will try to expand general technology acronyms or slang the first few times they are used. But within the field you will come across them often.

The basics

So what critical "words" do you need to know?

Exhibit

Generally used to mean the digital device being examined - say a computer, or phone. Although it is often used to mean a report, or disk containing evidence samples, produced as the result of an investigation. This latter is common in criminal law settings.

Imaging/Acquisition

Simply refers to making an exact copy of an exhibit - the terms are used interchangeably, and will be explained in depth in a later chapter.