Handbook of Computer Crime Investigation: Forensic Tools and Technology (Paperback)

~ Eoghan Casey BS MA (Editor) "In June 2000, when the home of alleged serial killer John Robinson was searched, five computers were collected as evidence..." (more)
Key Phrases: restoration server, reboot system boot, unassigned clusters, United States, Network Analysis, Back Orifice (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...any library serving them would find this an excellent introduction - E-Streams
Any law firm looking to get into the field would do well to start here. - E-Streams
...a useful introduction to an increasingly important field - E-Streams -- Review

Review

The audience for this book is obviously the legal and law enforcement communities, so any library serving them would find this an excellent introduction. Any law firm looking to get into the field would do well to start here. - E-Streams

Academic law, business or computer science collections will, however, find this book a useful introduction to an increasingly important field - even large public libraries will find an eager audience in an uncertain world. - E-Streams

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1st edition (November 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0121631036
• ISBN-13: 978-0121631031
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #713,748 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Computer Crime Investigation...Cookbook!, February 21, 2002

By	Marco De Vivo "mata-hackers" (Miami, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What is your real interest?
If you have a strong background on computer networks, and want to know about 'true' computers forensic, then you should consider books like 'Know your Enemy' or 'Intrusion Signatures and Analysis'. Else, if you are not a computer networks expert or not even a computer professional, and want to have some knowledge about computers forensic, then this can be your book: very comprehensive, not too depth, rich of examples, and, as a bonus, covering several emerging security issues like Wireless Network Analysis and Embedded Systems Analysis.
Note, however that:
- It is not a traditional book, but rather a set of 'essays'.
- The contained material is quite biased, since several explanations seem to be more oriented toward promoting tools than to discuss the areas they are intended for.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essays by a variety of learned and experienced authors, July 12, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Capably edited by Eoghan Casey (System Security Administrator, Yale University), Handbook Of Computer Crime Investigation: Forensic Tools And Technology is a fascinating guide to the software and hardware tools necessary for collecting digital evidence of cyber crimes ranging from cyberstalking and child pornography to financial fraud, espionage, or terrorism. Essays by a variety of learned and experienced authors present the latest means of forensic analysis for Windows, Unix, and more systems. Sample code, charts, and appropriate case examples pepper this amazing, cutting-edge criminology reference. Handbook Of Computer Crime Investigation is an invaluable and "user friendly" contribution to the field of computer and Internet security.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll find something to like in this collection of essays, January 13, 2002

By	Richard Bejtlich "TaoSecurity.com" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I bought "Handbook of Computer Crime Investigation" (HoCCI) to expand my knowledge of incident response and digital forensics. While "Incident Response" by Mandia, Prosise, and Pepe remains my top pick, HoCCI contains enough original material to qualify as recommended reading.

HoCCI is a collection of 14 distinct chapters written by 17 authors. The book's main audience appears to be law enforcement personnel, and Academic Press markets the book as a title in its "Forensic Science" catalog. The introduction states the book is written for "forensic examiners" who testify in court, although anyone performing digital forensics will find useful sections.

Some of HoCCI's strengths include numerous case studies. Ch. 2 offers examples of "ineffective" and "effective" disclosure and production of digital records in legal proceedings. Chs. 12, 13, and 14 are dedicated to factual legal and incident response scenarios. Reading these anecdotes, I perceived most of the 17 authors to be extremely familiar with their field.

Beyond helpful case studies, HoCCI provides several strong technical chapters. Bob Sheldon's Windows section (ch. 7) is excellent, and Ronald van der Knijff's embedded systems essay (ch. 11) explains the cutting edge of digital forensics. His discussions of directly reading FLASH and EEPROM memory, and using power analysis to break passwords, are impressive. I enjoyed Steve Romig's explanation of using Cisco NetFlow logs in ch. 4, and found the descriptions of wireless systems in ch. 10 to be useful.

HoCCI is not without faults. Several chapters seem like product advertisements; EnCase is the focus of ch. 3, while NFR's IDS appears in ch. 5. The network analysis section (ch. 9) repeats the much-quoted myth that TCP sequence numbers count packets; they actually count bytes of application data.

Overall, HoCCI is a useful supplement to Foundstone's "Incident Response." HoCCI may spend too many pages describing how to search hard drives for remnants of illicit images, illegal software, or harassing emails. Fortunately, its technical content distinguishes it from "Computer Forensics" by Kruse and Heiser and "Incident Response: A Strategic Guide" by Schultz and Shumway.