Case Facts:
Virginia Beach Police informed that Over 20 weapons stolen from a Virginia gun store. Federal agents have gotten involved in seeking the culprits who police say stole more than 20 firearms from a Norfolk Virginia gun shop this week. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working with Virginia Beach police to locate the weapons, which included handguns and rifles. News outlets report they were stolen from a store called DOA Arms during a Tuesday morning burglary.
Based on the ‘Probable Cause of affidavit’ a search warrant was obtained to search the apartment occupied by Mr. John Doe and Mr. Don Joe at Manassas, Virginia. When the search warrant executed, it yielded miscellaneous items and a computer. The Special Agent conducting the investigation, seized the hard drive from the computer and sent to Forensics Lab for imaging.
You are to conduct a forensic examination of the image to determine if any relevant electronic files exist, that may help with the case. The examination process must preserve all evidence.
Your Job:
Forensic analysis of the image suspect_ImageLinks to an external site. which is handed over to you
The image file suspect_ImageLinks to an external site. ( Someone imaged the suspect drive like you did in the First part of Final Project )
MD5 Checksum : 10c466c021ce35f0ec05b3edd6ff014f
You have to think critically, and evaluate the merits of different possibilities applying your knowledge what you have learned so far. As you can see this assignment is about “investigating” a case. There is no right and wrong answer to this investigation. However, to assist you with the investigation some questions have been created for you to use as a guide while you create a complete expert witness report. Remember, you not only have to identify the evidence concerning the crime, but must tie the image back to the suspects showing that the image came from which computer. Please note: -there isn’t any disc Encryption like BitLocker. You can safely assume that the Chain of custody were maintained.
There is a Discussion Board forum, I enjoy seeing students develop their skills in critical thinking and the expression of their own ideas. Feel free to discuss your thoughts without divulging your findings.
While you prepare your Expert Witness Report, trying to find answer to these questions may help you to lead to write a conclusive report : NOTE: Your report must be an expert witness report, and NOT just a list of answered questions)
In your report, you should try to find answer the following questions:
What is the first step you have taken to analyze the image
What did you find in the image:
What file system was installed on the hard drive, how many volume?
Which operating system was installed on the computer?
How many user accounts existed on the computer?
Which computer did this image come from? Any indicator that it’s a VM?
What actions did you take to analyze the artifacts you have found in the image/computer? (While many files in computer are irrelevant to case, how did you search for an artifacts/interesting files in the huge pile of files?
Can you describe the backgrounds of the people who used the computer? For example, Internet surfing habits, potential employers, known associates, etc.
If there is any evidence related to the theft of gun? Why do you think so?
a. Possibly Who was involved? Where do they live?
