Date of Award

Summer 8-2016

Degree Type

Thesis-Restricted

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Major Professor

Richard, Golden III

Second Advisor

Roussev, Vassil

Third Advisor

Ahmed, Irfan

Abstract

Using a forensic imager to produce a copy of the storage is a common practice. Due to the large volumes of the modern disks, the imaging may impose severe time overhead which ultimately delays the investigation process. We proposed automated disk analysis techniques that precisely identify regions on the disk that contain data. We also developed a high performance imager that produces AFFv3 images at rates exceeding 300MB/s. Using multiple disk analysis strategies we can analyze a disk within a few minutes and yet reduce the imaging time of by many hours. Partial AFFv3 images produced by our imager can be analyzed by existing digital forensics tools, which makes our approach to be easily incorporated into the workflow of practicing forensics investigators. The proposed approach renders feasible in the forensic environments where the time is critical constraint, as it provides significant performance boost, which facilitates faster investigation turnaround times and reduces case backlogs.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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