Learning Python for Forensics

Learn the art of designing, developing, and deploying innovative forensic solutions through Python

About This Book

• This practical guide will help you solve forensic dilemmas through the development of Python scripts
• Analyze Python scripts to extract metadata and investigate forensic artifacts
• Master the skills of parsing complex data structures by taking advantage of Python libraries

Who This Book Is For

If you are a forensics student, hobbyist, or professional that is seeking to increase your understanding in forensics through the use of a programming language, then this book is for you.

You are not required to have previous experience in programming to learn and master the content within this book. This material, created by forensic professionals, was written with a unique perspective and understanding of examiners who wish to learn programming

What You Will Learn

• Discover how to perform Python script development
• Update yourself by learning the best practices in forensic programming
• Build scripts through an iterative design
• Explore the rapid development of specialized scripts
• Understand how to leverage forensic libraries developed by the community
• Design flexibly to accommodate present and future hurdles
• Conduct effective and efficient investigations through programmatic pre-analysis
• Discover how to transform raw data into customized reports and visualizations

In Detail

This book will illustrate how and why you should learn Python to strengthen your analysis skills and efficiency as you creatively solve real-world problems through instruction-based tutorials. The tutorials use an interactive design, giving you experience of the development process so you gain a better understanding of what it means to be a forensic developer.

Each chapter walks you through a forensic artifact and one or more methods to analyze the evidence. It also provides reasons why one method may be advantageous over another. We cover common digital forensics and incident response scenarios, with scripts that can be used to tackle case work in the field. Using built-in and community-sourced libraries, you will improve your problem solving skills with the addition of the Python scripting language. In addition, we provide resources for further exploration of each script so you can understand what further purposes Python can serve. With this knowledge, you can rapidly develop and deploy solutions to identify critical information and fine-tune your skill set as an examiner.

Style and approach

The book begins by instructing you on the basics of Python, followed by chapters that include scripts targeted for forensic casework. Each script is described step by step at an introductory level, providing gradual growth to demonstrate the available functionalities of Python.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Now For Something Completely Different
Chapter 2: Python Fundamentals
Chapter 3: Parsing Text Files
Chapter 4: Working with Serialized Data Structures
Chapter 5: Databases in Python
Chapter 6: Extracting Artifacts from Binary Files
Chapter 7: Fuzzy Hashing
Chapter 8: The Media Age
Chapter 9: Uncovering Time
Chapter 10: Did Someone Say Keylogger?
Chapter 11: Parsing Outlook PST Containers
Chapter 12: Recovering Transient Database Records
Chapter 13: Coming Full Circle
Appendix A:Installing Python
Appendix B:Python Technical Details
Appendix C:Troubleshooting Exceptions