Introduction :
In the area of digital forensics, digital forensic tools are specialized pieces of software and hardware used to look into and analyze data from digital devices like computers, cell phones, and network servers.
Forensics’s history has evolved over the decades in different branches of forensic science.
It has become a very crucial part of enforcement activities throughout the globe.
Here, we have listed some of the most critical 10 digital forensic tools that help fight against cybercrime and protect digital assets.
In the current scenario, due to the internet and advanced globalization, crime has a different form.
It is also necessary that, for the conviction of the perpetrator, you gather evidence.
In this situation, digital forensic tools will help investigate the crucial piece through the electronic device so that the guilty can be behind bars and the court of law can make the correct decision.
Usually, digital forensics is the process of identification, extraction, preservation, documentation, etc.
The court is using all of these.
Here, you will find many tools that will help you make this investigation simple and easy.
These will also provide complete reports that can be used for legal procedures.
Table of Contents
What are forensic Tools?
What is the basis of forensic investigation?
Why is forensic investigation important?
10 Free Forensic Investigation Tools
What are the forensic tools in cybersecurity?
10 Free Forensic Investigation Tools Features
1. Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy)
2. Forensic Investigator
3. Autopsy
4. Dumpzilla
5. X-Ways Forensics
6. Toolsley
7. Browser History
8. CAINE
9. FTK Imager
10. ExifTool
Final Thoughts – Free Forensic Investigation Tools
FAQ
Also Read
What are Digital Forensic Tools?
Digital forensic tools are specialized pieces of software and hardware that are made to help with the study and analysis of digital data and devices.
These tools are necessary to get electronic proof from computers, smartphones, networks, and cloud storage, as well as to analyze it, keep it safe, and show it.
Forensic experts can use them to do many things, such as get back deleted files, look at system logs, look at internet records, and access protected data.
Digital forensic tools are very important for law enforcement and cybersecurity because they help with crime cases, making sure businesses follow the rules, and responding to data breaches.
They are designed to handle data in a way that keeps its purity and lets it be used in court.
This makes sure that the evidence stays true and reliable for cases.
They are very important in a world where digital proof is important in both criminal and civil cases because of their advanced features.
What is the basis of a Digital Forensic Investigation?
Digital forensic investigations use systematic and rigorous study of digital data to find criminal, civil, or business facts and insights.
This method begins with the safe collection of digital data from computers, mobile devices, and network servers to preserve evidence without change or harm.
For evidence integrity, the chain of custody must document every encounter with the evidence. Specialized digital forensic tools analyze the material after collection.
These technologies let investigators retrieve deleted files, examine system logs, decrypt data, and analyze data patterns to recreate events or user behaviors.
The final objective is to create a true digital narrative of what happened.
This story is then thoroughly documented and presented, typically in court settings where accuracy and legal requirements are crucial for admissibility.
To maintain credibility and validity, ethical concerns and conformity with relevant laws and regulations are essential throughout the inquiry.
Why is a Forensic Investigation Important?
Digital forensic analysis is important because it finds and makes sense of electronic data, which is very important in the digital world we live in now where most things are kept electronically.
This kind of research helps solve crimes that involve computers, smartphones, and networks by gathering important proof that can be used in court.
It’s especially important for fighting hacking, identity theft, and getting into people’s data without permission.
Digital forensics is also very important in the business world, where it helps look into data leaks, internal fraud, and making sure that data security rules are followed.
This field helps make complicated cases clearer by looking at digital proof.
This keeps justice and safety in a society that is becoming more and more digital.
What are the forensic tools in cybersecurity?
Hardware and software alike, digital forensics technologies are used to preserve data and essential systems, as well as recover digital proof of cyberattacks.
Digital forensic technologies are essential for cybercrime investigation and mitigation.
Advanced software can evaluate vast amounts of data, and specialist hardware can access and examine diverse digital media.
Disk and data recovery programs recover data from damaged or destroyed hard drives, network forensic tools analyze network traffic to detect malicious activity, and mobile forensic tools extract data from smartphones and tablets.
Memory forensics tools investigate system memory for malware or hacking, while live forensics tools examine systems without affecting operation.
These technologies assist companies comprehend a breach, attacker techniques, and response strategies by putting together hackers’ digital tracks.
Legal processes benefit from their documented cyberattack proof, assuring compliance with legislation and advancing justice.
10 Best Digital Forensic Tools in 2024
- Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy)
- Forensic Investigator
- Autopsy
- Dumpzilla
- ExifTool
- Toolsley
- Browse History
- CAINE
- FTk Images
- X-Ways Forensics
Digital Forensic Tools Features
| 10 Digital Forensic Tools | Features |
|---|---|
| 1. Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy) | 1. File system analysis 2. Keyword search 3. File carving 4. Metadata analysis |
| 2. Forensic Investigator | 1. Scientific Knowledge 2. Attention to Detail 3. Analytical Skills 4. Communication Skills |
| 3. Autopsy | 1. Post-mortem examination 2. Forensic pathology 3. External examination 4. Internal examination |
| 4. Dumpzilla | 1. Data extraction 2. Forensic analysis 3. Web browser artifacts 4. Internet history |
| 5. ExifTool | 1. Different Output Options 2. Help with Geotagging 3. Remove Embedded Thumbnails 4. Changes to the date and time 5. Cross-Platform Support |
| 6. Toolsley | 1. Images and copies of disks 2. Examining the File System 3. Searching for Keywords 4. Examining the Registry 5. A look at the timeline |
| 7. Browser History | 1. Looking at Session Information 2. History Leaving 3. Different ways to search and sort 4. Length of Visit 5. Details about the last visit |
| 8. CAINE | 1. Linux-based OS 2. Forensic tools 3. Live analysis 4. Data imaging |
| 9. FTK Imager | 1. Details about the volume and files 2. Having fun 3. Examining the Windows Registry 4. Easy to Use Interface 5. No Cost to Use |
| 10. X-Ways Forensics | 1. Images and copies of disks 2. Examining the File System 3. Searching for Keywords 4. Analysis of the Registry and Artifacts 5. A look at the timeline |
1. Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy)
With this top utility tool, computer forensic analysis is a breeze.
The best user-friendly interface on a computer or smartphone will be studied.
Included are email analysis and file searching capabilities for pertinent documents and images.
It is also good to see a thumbnail, which is a smaller representation of each photograph.
Any tag name the user chooses for the file is up for grabs.
Mineable data can be found in a variety of sources, including messages, phone records, contacts, and more.
Another useful thing to do is to use the name of the file or folder to designate it.
Features
- These two tools can display storage medium file systems and find deleted or hidden files.
- Look for words or patterns in digital proof to find information.
- Note what happened with the system and files to diagnose the issue.
- If file system structures are lost or broken, “carving” files into data can recover them.
- Look for crucial data in the Windows registry and old system files.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Open-Source and Free | Customization and Advanced Features |
| Cross-Platform Compatibility | Lack of User-Friendly Interface |
| Extensive File System Support | |
| Robust File Analysis Capabilities |
Demo video
Price
you can get a free demo and a personalized demo from here…
Sleuth Kit (+Autopsy) – Trial / Demo
2. Forensic Investigator
The forensic investigator may question whether the user is making good use of Splunk, a technology that offers several advantages.
Ping, Banner grabber, port scanner, SNB Share, NetBIOS reader, Virus Total lookup, URL decoder/parser, XOR/HEX/Base64 converter, etc. are all included in this useful program.
Features
- Making disk snapshots of data storage devices to protect them during forensic investigations.
- Filesystem analysis recovers directories, files, and meta-data.
- This involves grouping files and evaluating information, modification times, and rights.
- Finding information using metadata, free room, or file content
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Solving Crimes | Exposure to Traumatic Material |
| Intellectual Challenge | Irregular and Demanding Hours |
| Variety of Specializations | |
| Continuous Learning |
Demo video
Price
you can get a free demo and a personalized demo from here…
Forensic Investigator – Trial / Demo
3. Autopsy
Although it offers a top-notch graphical user interface, this open-source digital forensics program is limited to studying just hard drives and cellphones.
In order to diagnose computer problems, many people across the globe perform autopsies.
The current state of autopsy is best handled by an end-to-end platform that offers pre-packaged, ready-to-use modules.
In order to provide capabilities such as time series analysis, data carving, keyword searching, and indication output, just a small number of modules degrade STIX.
Features
- Autopsy generates forensic images of hard disks without changing their data.
- Police can examine file formats, information, and types using autopsy.
- It finds words and trends in file content, metadata, and free space.
- It can use file system metadata, timestamps, and people’s actions to judge events in Autopsy’s timeline display.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better ? |
|---|---|
| Open-Source and Free | Steeper Learning Curve |
| Comprehensive Analysis | Limited Advanced Analysis Features |
| User-Friendly Interface | |
| Extensive File System Support |
Demo video
Price
you can get a free demo and a personalized demo from here…
Autopsy – Trial / Demo
4. Dumpzilla
Dumpzilla is another great Python 3.x forensic tool.
Its techniques for extracting all the necessary and valuable data are only compatible with a small number of browsers, such as Iceweasel, Firefox, and Seamonkey.
It is available for free on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
The command line interface provides a number of tools for dumping and rerouting data to pipes, such as grep, cut, sed, awk, etc.
With this level of functionality, you can retrieve practically everything: add-ons, cookies, bookmarks, history, passwords, downloads, data from form fill-ins, and much more besides.
You have the option to export your data to either a text file or a JSON file.
Wildcards and regular expressions are powerful tools for precise filtering.
Features
- Forensic agents can extract Mozilla Firefox’s bookmarks, cookies, browser history, form data, saved passwords, and more via Dumpzilla.
- Dumpzilla extracts Firefox SQLite data.
- The GUI simplifies Dumpzilla for non-command-line agents.
- Investigators can search and sort Dumpzilla for data.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Investigative Tool | Cross-Device Limitations |
| Corroborating Evidence | Incomplete or Deleted History |
| Intelligence Gathering | |
| Parental Monitoring |
Dumpzilla – Trial / Demo
5. ExifTool
.webp)
When dealing with file-specific metadata, ExifTool is among the best command-line interface tools available.
It makes it easier to read a wide variety of image file types, such as GPS, IPTC, JFIF, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, GeoTIFF, and many more.
Lots of digital cameras’ metadata are compatible with it. Canon, Casio, DJI, FLIR, FujiFilm, GE, GoPro, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Motorola, Nikon, Nintendo, Ricoh, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon, and Sony are among them.
Features
- It supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, MP3, WAV, AVI, MOV, and PDF.
- File information can be written to and changed using ExifTool.
- With ExifTool’s batch processing, you can alter or obtain data from many files.
- This allows you search and narrow things using information.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Extensive File Format Support | Command-Line Interface |
| Comprehensive Metadata Extraction | Limited Error Handling |
| Flexibility and Customization | Lack of Real-Time Feedback |
| Cross-Platform Compatibility |
Demo video
ExifTool – Trial / Demo
6. Toolsley
File identifier, file signature verifier, binary inspector, hash and verify, encode the text, data URI generator, binary inspector, and password generator are some of the investigational tools included in this widely used tool.
Demo video
price
You can get a free trial and personalized demo from here.
Toolsley –Trial / Demo
7. Browser History
Among the many types of digital forensic tools available, this one can examine the browsing histories of numerous popular web browsers.
All of them display the user’s previous activities in the desk’s lone web browser.
The user’s profile, browser type, total pageviews, URLs visited, and more may all be discovered in the table that displays their browsing history.
In order for the system to work properly, it is necessary to view the user’s browser history.
Additionally, it retrieves the user’s browsing history from the external hard drive.
Filterable, interactive graphs and historical data are the standard formats for output presentation.
Features
- A list of the websites that the user viewed.
- The exact web sites that were visited.
- Timestamps show when people visited websites.
- The names of the websites that were viewed.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Retrieval of Visited Websites | Incomplete or Deleted History |
| Enhanced User Experience | Tracking and Targeted Advertising |
| Improved Navigation | |
| Research and Reference |
Demo video
Price
You can get a free trial and personalized demo from here…
Browser History – Trial / Demo
8. CAINE
CAINE is a graphical user interface (GUI) forensic environment that is built on the Ubuntu operating system.
It is common practice to merge this program with the one before it, since it is a module.
Along with the chronology, it reads it from RAM automatically.
The four stages of digital inquiry and a digital investigator are all part of this bundle.
Because of the software’s flexible interface and the availability of numerous user-friendly tools, the CAINE features are extremely adaptable.
Features
- Databases are protected during forensic imaging of storage media.
- Researchers can examine data, file structures, and deleted or concealed files using CAINE’s file system.
- It can compute hashes, analyze files and networks, memory forensics, and find phrases. All are open-source.
- CAINE analyzes system volatile memory using memory analysis data.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive Forensic Tools | Limited Commercial Tool Support |
| Open-Source and Free | Limited Vendor Support |
| Linux-based Environment | |
| User-Friendly Interface |
Demo video
CAINE – Trial / Demo
9. FTK Imager
To ensure that your data collecting procedures are up to snuff, you can practice using the FTK Imager Digital Forensic Tools.
Data is faithfully replicated while utmost care is taken to safeguard the originals.
It captures disk images in segments or as a single, repartable file.
In addition to checking for data integrity, the MD5 hash value is calculated.
A wizard-driven technique is provided for the purpose of recognizing cybercrime.
This application can crack the passwords of 100 different programs and makes things more obvious.
Its integrated data analysis tool makes short work developing reusable profiles for a wide range of probes.
Features
- FTK Imager lets crime scientists photograph hard drives, USB devices, and disk parts.
- It can obtain live RAM from operational machines.
- It has disk image and file viewing tools.
- It can search disk pictures or files for words or file kinds.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Imaging Capabilities | Limited Advanced Analysis Features |
| Intuitive User Interface | Proprietary Format Compatibility |
| Verification and Integrity Checks | |
| Live Memory Acquisition |
Demo video
FTK Imager – Trial / Demo
10. X-Ways Forensics
This is just one of the digital forensic tools used in the field of computer forensics.
X-Ways may double as a backup device for those big file transfers or scans.
This method can also be used for collaborative projects, but it requires that all participants have access to the software.
If you have an a.dd picture file, this software can read it and see the partitioning and structure.
As the owner of this software, you have access to the full drive and RAID.
This device is capable of detecting both Alternate Data Streams (ADS) and New Technology File Systems (NTFS).
This tool can even inspect machines that are located remotely and supports bookmarks and annotations.
Binary data may be visible to users utilizing templates, and users have the option to implement security measures to guarantee the data’s legitimacy.
Features
- X-Ways Forensics lets forensic experts image and examine storage media disks.
- Advanced file carving helps the program recover deleted files or sections of files from empty disk space or broken sectors.
- X-Ways Forensics’ strong keyword search and filtering tools can discover specific data in disk pictures or files.
- The software checks file metadata, timestamps, and user actions.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive Feature Set | Limited Mac OS Support |
| Efficiency and Speed | Learning Curve |
| Deep File System Analysis | |
| Advanced Carving and Recovery |
Demo video
X-Ways Forensics – Trial / Demo
Price:
you can get a free trial and demo from here…
Final Thoughts – Digital Forensic Investigation Tools
We hope this tool can help you handle Cybersecurity incidents more effectively and make the investigation process faster.
If you are new to forensic investigation, then you can check out these above courses.
If you want to learn more about forensic tools, the gbhackers.com published a list of Digital Forensic Tools.
FAQ
Law enforcement, cybersecurity, digital forensic analysts, business investigators, and other digital media investigators use these technologies.
Many forensic programs can recover deleted files and other data. They can usually recover data from storage medium fragments, but it depends on the file system and the time since deletion.
Tool selection relies on case needs, device types, investigator expertise, and money. Consider the tool’s data volume capacity and compatibility with other investigation tools and technologies.
Also Read
Top 10 Tools to Scan Linux Servers for Vulnerability and Malware 2024
Top 10 Network Packet Analyzer Tools for Sysadmin & Security Analysts 2024
AWS Security Tools to Protect Your Environment and Accounts 2024
SMTP Test Tools to Detect Server Issues & To Test Email Security 2024
Online Penetration Testing Tools for Reconnaissance and Exploit Search 2024
Best Advanced Endpoint Security Tools 2024
Best Free Penetration Testing Tools 2024
Dangerous DNS Attacks Types and The Prevention Measures 2024