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Cyber Security / Digital Forensics
3,877 words
Digital Forensics Investigation: USB, Memory and Windows Registry Analysis
This Digital Forensics Investigation Report presents a multi-source forensic examination involving removable media, volatile memory and a Windows disk image. The work is undertaken within an MSc Cyber Security context and demonstrates the application of forensic procedures, specialist analysis tools and evidential reasoning to investigate suspected criminal and malicious activity. The report places particular emphasis on maintaining evidence integrity, reconstructing activity across different forensic sources and correlating artefacts to produce defensible investigative findings. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash The first part investigates a FAT32 USB forensic image associated with suspected video piracy and other potentially criminal activity. The examination uses tools including FTK Imager, Autopsy, Sleuth Kit, ewfmount, cryptographic hashing utilities and VeraCrypt. The methodology includes pre- and post-examination hash verification, read-only mounting, filesystem enumeration, deleted-file analysis and low-level sector examination. The investigation identifies deleted artefacts, portable anti-forensic utilities, browser evidence and an encrypted VeraCrypt container concealed within unallocated disk space. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash The USB investigation also demonstrates the importance of evidence integrity and chain of custody. MD5 and SHA-256 hashes are used to establish and later confirm the integrity of forensic copies, while analysis is conducted without modifying the original evidence. The report examines filesystem structures, deleted files, anti-forensic tooling and encrypted data and records evidence handling through a formal chain-of-custody process. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash The second part focuses on volatile-memory forensics using a Windows memory image. Volatility 3 is used to identify the operating-system profile, reconstruct process hierarchies, inspect process ownership and security identifiers, and extract suspicious process memory. Particular attention is given to AtomicService.exe, which is observed running with SYSTEM privileges and associated with the Atomic Red Team framework and MITRE ATT&CK technique T1543.003 – Windows Service. The investigation also considers PowerShell activity, process execution timelines and indicators of suspicious behaviour. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash The third part conducts Windows Registry forensic analysis on the WinRegEvidenceP3.vhd image. Registry artefacts are examined using RegRipper, with analysis covering SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SAM and NTUSER.DAT hives. The investigation evaluates system configuration, user accounts, application execution and persistence evidence using artefacts such as Run keys, BAM, Prefetch and scheduled tasks. These findings are then correlated with evidence recovered from volatile memory to reconstruct the sequence of suspicious activity. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash Across the report, evidence from disk, memory and the Windows Registry is combined to reconstruct malicious activity and identify persistence mechanisms, elevated processes, suspicious user accounts and adversary-simulation tools. The analysis maps relevant behaviour to the MITRE ATT&CK framework and considers both technical findings and their evidential significance. The report therefore demonstrates practical competence in forensic acquisition principles, artefact analysis, timeline reconstruction, malware and process investigation, evidence correlation and professional reporting. Important for the Reference Library: this upload contains an actual student name on the cover page and detailed case evidence. Since your Reference Library says there is no student record behind uploaded past work, I would use the generic title and overview above rather than copying the student-identifying cover-page information into the public metadata. DF_Report_Sathiyaprakash
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Digital Forensics / Cyber Security
3,000 words
Digital Forensics Investigation of a USB Device: Evidence Acquisition, Analysis and Reporting
This Digital Forensics assessment requires students to undertake a simulated professional investigation of a USB storage device while acting as a digital forensic trainee for a fictional forensic-services organisation. The nature of the suspected wrongdoing is initially unknown, requiring the investigator to apply appropriate forensic methodologies, tools and analytical techniques to identify suspicious activity, recover relevant artefacts and determine whether evidence of malicious or unauthorised behaviour exists. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… The investigation begins with authorisation, evidence handling and chain of custody. Students must demonstrate secure receipt and management of the USB device, operate within the authorised scope of the investigation and maintain records covering each stage of the evidence lifecycle. Forensic acquisition requires use and validation of a software write blocker, creation of bit-for-bit forensic images and cryptographic hashing to demonstrate that working and evidential copies maintain integrity. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… The analytical stage involves examination of the working forensic image using appropriate digital-forensic tools. Students investigate file-signature mismatches, password-protected files, registry artefacts, USB history, user activity, metadata and timeline relationships. Where suspicious executable files are discovered, static and/or dynamic malware analysis may be undertaken. The investigation can therefore span documents, images, applications, executables and registry hives. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… Students must maintain objective and chronological forensic case notes documenting evidence acquisition, preservation, analysis and interpretation. These records should support reproducibility and potential evidential admissibility. The final forensic report summarises findings, explains and justifies the tools and methodologies used, records integrity-verification results, discusses relevant legal, ethical and professional principles and provides appropriate recommendations for further action. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… The assessment also encourages advanced forensic analysis where relevant, including OSINT, password recovery or decryption, data carving, regular-expression searching, advanced registry analysis and static or dynamic malware investigation. Professional practice is assessed through adherence to recognised forensic methodologies, industry best practice, legal and ethical obligations, chain-of-custody records and evidence-handling procedures. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… Overall, the coursework integrates forensic acquisition, evidence preservation, artefact analysis, advanced investigation techniques, professional documentation and legally defensible reporting within a realistic digital-forensics case-study environment. Important for your public Reference Library: this brief explicitly states that it is for Coventry University Group students' own use and must not be passed to third parties or posted on any website. 7070SCN_Assessment Brief_2526MA… So use the metadata and an original high-level overview like the one above, but do not upload or publicly reproduce the assessment brief itself.
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Digital Forensics / Cybersecurity
2,000 words
AI-Augmented Digital Forensics Workflow Audit: Feasibility and Risk Assessment of ForensiScan AI
This digital forensics assessment examines the feasibility, reliability and legal risks associated with introducing AI-assisted analysis into a conventional forensic investigation workflow. Students act as a Lead Forensic Consultant assessing a proposed black-box system called ForensiScan AI, which claims to automatically classify illicit images and identify suspicious intent within encrypted messaging applications using Large Language Models. The central objective is to determine whether the efficiency benefits of AI can be achieved without compromising evidential integrity, transparency or legal defensibility. The report maps the proposed AI system across the four stages of the NIST forensic process: Collection, Examination, Analysis and Reporting. For each phase, students identify the data entering and leaving the AI system and determine whether the technology should be used for preliminary triage or as part of final forensic analysis. A major component concerns verification and validation. Because AI systems may hallucinate or misclassify evidence, students must design a ground-truth protocol involving human verification, statistical sampling and known datasets. The assessment also investigates whether AI-generated results can be reproduced reliably when identical evidence is processed again. The report further addresses chain of custody and data integrity, particularly whether AI processing could alter timestamps, metadata or other forensic artefacts. Ethical and legal analysis covers potential model bias, language and contextual limitations, and whether AI-generated outputs could satisfy the requirements of the Daubert Test for expert evidence. Overall, the assessment combines digital-forensic architecture, AI governance, evidential integrity, model validation, legal admissibility and professional accountability. The grading criteria place particular emphasis on forensic soundness, protection against evidence alteration, critical analysis of AI limitations such as hallucination and non-determinism, and professional technical communication. Overview word count: approximately 340 words. AI-use note: the brief permits AI only for limited assistance such as brainstorming risks, structural feedback and grammar refinement. It explicitly prohibits full report generation, unverified forensic claims and using AI to substitute for the student's own final recommendation or verification protocol. Any AI use requires an appendix containing the tool, exact prompts and a human verification log.
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Cyber Security / Digital Forensics
3,500 words
Digital Forensics Portfolio: Disk Image, Memory and Windows Registry Investigation
This Level 7 Digital Forensics portfolio requires students to conduct a structured forensic investigation across disk, memory and Windows Registry evidence. The assessment develops practical investigative skills alongside professional forensic reporting and requires students to preserve evidence integrity, document methodology, interpret technical artefacts and communicate findings clearly. The portfolio is equivalent to 3,500 words and forms 60% of the module assessment. The first part involves analysing a seized USB forensic image in the context of a suspected insider involved in video piracy and potentially more serious criminal activity. Students must follow ACPO digital forensic best practice, verify image integrity before and after examination, maintain a clear chain of custody, identify significant device properties and artefacts, and justify conclusions using evidence. Tools such as FTK Imager and Autopsy may be used, alongside other appropriate forensic utilities. The scenario also requires examination of an encrypted VeraCrypt container discovered within the evidence. The second part focuses on memory forensics using a Windows memory dump. Students are expected to reconstruct process execution timelines, examine suspicious processes including PowerShell, Notepad and AtomicService, identify process owners and SIDs, extract relevant memory artefacts and produce an executive summary suitable for a non-technical audience. The third part requires an extensive Windows Registry and system artefact investigation. Students examine operating-system information, users, network configuration, login activity, suspicious files, executable and DLL creation, BAM records, Prefetch artefacts, scheduled tasks, persistence mechanisms and evidence of potentially malicious activity. Findings must be supported with screenshots, extracted artefacts or other appropriate evidence. The assignment must use the university's official portfolio template and be submitted as a PDF. The template organises the work into forensic image analysis, memory investigation and Windows Registry investigation sections. For a public Reference Library entry, this title is better than simply “Digital Forensics Coursework” because it clearly communicates the three major technical components of the work.
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