Digital Forensics

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham

The University of Texas at Dallas

Expert Witness and Report Writing - II

November 26, 2008

Outline

Report Writing for High tech investigations Expert Testimony in High tech investigation Reference: Chapter 14, 15 of Textbook

Report Writing

Understanding the Importance of Reports

- Limiting report to specifics

- Types of reports Guidelines for writing reports

- What to include in preliminary reports

- Report structure

- Writing reports clearly

- Designing layout and presentation of reports

- References Generating report with forensics tools

Understanding the importance of reports

Reports are the means to communicate effectively the findings of the expert witness

Therefore reports have to be specific and to the point Reports could be verbal reports or most often written reports

Guidelines for writing reports

Preliminary reports may include tentative conclusions – this could be interim reports

Final reports must have structure

- Abstract, Table of contents, Body of report, Conclusions, Reference, Glossary, Acknowledgements, Appendix,

Actual References may have to attached to the report. Writing style has to be precise

- Need to communicate well, Grammar and vocabulary are crucial, Punctuation and spelling have to be correct

- Need to justify all conclusions.

Using Forensics Tools

Many tools like ENCASE have report writing capabilities Advantages of using these tools is that can include screen shots

directly from the tools Chapter 14 describes the use of both ProDiscover and FTK for

writing reports

Expert Testimony

Preparing for Testimony Testifying in Court Preparing for a deposition or hearing Preparing forensic evidence

Preparing for Testimony

Be very thorough with your report Document the evidence and prepare it in a format that can be

understood Be prepared to explain every sentence in your report and

evidence Have a current resume Know all the definitions Need to deal with the news media

Testifying in Court

Be prepared for intense cross examination Think before you say anything and be prepared to justify all your

statements Learn about testifying during direct examination (questions from

your attorney) and testifying during cross examination (opposition’s attorney)

Review the details in Lecture #29 More details in Chapter 15

Preparing for a Deposition or Hearing

Deposition is not testifying in court There are no judge and jury Both attorneys are present and ask questions Hearing is similar to a deposition and can be carried out in an

administrative agency or legislative body or court

Using Forensics Tools for Testimony

Tools like ENCASE can be used to gather information needed for testimony

Similar to generating reports Chapter 15 describes how Prodiscover and FTK can be used to

prepare testimony