Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation (With CD-ROM) (Networking Series) [Paperback]

John R. Vacca (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584500182 | ISBN-13: 978-1584500186 | Publication Date: June 15, 2002 | Edition: 1st

Terrorist attacks are no longer relegated to airports and federal buildings. Using personal computers as their weapons, hackers and criminals (some only 11 years old) have attacked the Internet, government agencies, financial companies, small businesses, and credit card accounts of unsuspecting individuals. This book/CD package provides a complete overview of computer forensics from its definition to "crime scene investigation," seizure of data, determining the "fingerprints" of the crime, and tracking down the criminal. The book focuses on "solving the crime" rather than information security.

KEY FEATURES

* Comprehensive overview of the subject from definitions to data recovery techniques to auditing methods to terrorist cyber-attacks

* Case studies and vignettes of actual computer crimes

* Selected Topics: Computer Forensics Fundamentals; Data Recovery; Evidence Collection And Data Seizure; Duplication And Preservation Of Digital Evidence; Electronic Evidence Reconstructing Past Events; Deterrence through Attacker ID; Destruction of e-mail; Is the US Government Prepared for Information Warfare; The Dark World of the Cyber Underground; Protection against Random Terrorist Information Warfare Tactics; The Cyber Foot Print and Criminal Tacking; The Individual Exposed; Case Studies and Vignettes

* CD includes tools, presentations, and demos of the latest computer forensics software, including partition images from The Forensic Challenge

On the CD-ROM:

The following forensic tools, demos, and presentations are included on the accompanying CD-ROM.

The Forensics Challenge Partition Images
- The HoneyNet Project
FW-1 Specific Network Intrusion Detector
- Lance Spitzner
RecoverNT v3.5(demo)
Recover98 v3.5 (demo)
FILERECOVERY for Windows v2.1(demo)
PHOTORECOVERY for Digital Media 1.5(demo)
- LC Technology International, Inc.
The Coroner's Toolkit (TCT)
- Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema
Free Hex Editor v1.1
- Raihan Kibria
WinHex 10.45(demo)
- X-Ways Software Technology AG
TCPurify 0.9.6
- Ethan Blanton
Protect2000 Security Suite (product presentation)
- Computer Security Products Inc.
Mazu Enforcer (product presentation)
- Mazu Networks

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The mightiest fortresses in the world can fail, and when that happens all you can do (you being the person responsible for castle security) is figure out what went wrong, what damage was done, and by whom. If the castle was located in the right kind of kingdom--to take a metaphor too far--you can hope to prosecute the perpetrator. Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation explains how to gather evidence of computer crimes in such a way that it will be more likely to lead to a conviction in a criminal court. It's an interesting legal area--after all, it's almost always you, and not any law enforcement agency doing the surveillance and evidence-gathering on your computer systems--and John Vacca has done a fair bit of research. This book will probably expand your thinking on the subject of information security.

On the other hand, though Vacca gives good general advice (don't lose volatile information by shutting a compromised machine down midattack; do be prepared to translate memory dumps into jury-readable form), he sometimes meanders into generalizations and irrelevancies. The fact that terrorists distribute their plans via public Web sites is certainly scary, but hardly helpful to someone wanting to prosecute the guy who vandalized the corporate Web site. Similarly interesting, but practically irrelevant to most of us, are discussions of high-energy radio frequency (HERF) and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons that can knock out information systems from a distance. More focus on evidence collection in organizational computing environments would make this book useful, rather than just generally informative. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to gather evidence of a hack attack after the fact, and a lot of general-interest information on the state of crime and law enforcement in computer technology. Coverage is almost all general in nature, dealing with how to formulate a strategy and deal with events without getting into details of any operating system or computing environment.

From the Publisher

KEY FEATURES - Comprehensive overview of the subject from definitions to data recovery techniques to auditing methods and services - Discusses data seizure and analysis, preservation of computer evidence, reconstruction of events and information warfare - Case studies and vignettes of actual computer crimes are used - CD includes demos of the latest computer forensics and auditing software

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584500182
• ISBN-13: 978-1584500186
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed by the content, July 17, 2002

By 

"shanahan_" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation (With CD-ROM) (Networking Series) (Paperback)

When I started this book I figured it would be on forensic analysis, data recovery and court presentation. The subject matter, however, tends to be more in tune with scare tactics, information warfare and a review of the author's previous work. The cd of "forensic software" doesn't match the content either. Several of the packages on the cd are interesting, useful and even well known, however the book doesn't go into detail regarding their use. In my opinion, I would recommend the book by Heiser and Kruse as a better choice for those looking for a complete book on the subject of computer forensics.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Huge Disappointment: Little-to-No Technical Content, July 17, 2002

By 

Andrew Smith (Lafayette, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation (With CD-ROM) (Networking Series) (Paperback)

The first 250 or so pages provide a decent (at best) high-level description of Computer Forensics, but the next 300 pages have little to do with computer crime investigations. It seems as if this book should really be two books: the first book would provide a good overview of computer forensics for those who are not very technical, and the second book (larger book) would be on Information Warfare. If you are looking for a decent book on forensic computing, with a lot of technical meat, this is NOT your book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay but I was disappointed, January 12, 2007

By 

stingray (Covina, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation (With CD-ROM) (Networking Series) (Paperback)

I was real excited when I saw this book that looked like the bible of computer forensics and it came with a DVD. The cost of 50 dollars made it expensive but with DVD that I hope would have video that I can watch.

THe book is okay in giving a general idea of computer forensics. It was not very specific in what to do. It has an interactive part in which it give you general answer too not very thorough.

Then, it goes on a tangent about warfare and cyber terrorism. It leaves the forensics behind. And the book goes over 700 pages.

The DVd is intro to some fornesics software, I was hoping it had video
to show people like me that are visual and can learn more this way.

So, the book is okay but I would check others that are more specific and give more thorough details about computer forensics.