CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701)Security OperationsMedium
A security analyst is conducting a forensic investigation after a suspected intrusion. To maintain the integrity of digital evidence, the analyst must ensure that the original drive is not altered in any way during the acquisition process. Which tool should the analyst use to achieve this?
- AForensic write blocker
- BDisk imaging software
- CData recovery software
- DHashing utility
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Forensic write blocker
A forensic write blocker is a hardware or software tool that prevents any data from being written to a source drive during the acquisition process, thereby preserving the integrity of the original evidence. This is crucial in digital forensics.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Disk imaging software creates a bit-for-bit copy of a drive but does not inherently prevent writes to the original drive unless used in conjunction with a write blocker.
- C. Data recovery software attempts to retrieve lost or deleted files, which is a different purpose and does not prevent writes to the source drive.
- D. A hashing utility creates a unique digital fingerprint of data to verify integrity, but it does not prevent alterations to the original data itself during acquisition.
Forensic Write Blocker
A hardware or software tool used in digital forensics to prevent any data from being written to a source drive, thus preserving the integrity of the original evidence during acquisition.
- Crucial for maintaining chain of custody and evidence admissibility.
- Can be hardware-based (physical device) or software-based.
- Ensures the original data remains unaltered.
Memory trick: Write Blocker: 'Block' any 'writes' to protect the evidence.