The Value of Metadata in Digital Forensics

Meta, which means "beyond," is a prefix that denotes a notion that is an abstraction of another entity. This translates to indicate that metadata is "data beyond the data." Metadata, then, is data about data or information about information. In order to make other data easier to find, understand, and use, metadata organises and characterises that data.

The details of other data may include the creator of a certain piece of data, the date it was created, the file size, and the date it was edited.  Finding a specific document is made simpler with the help of this information.

Metadata is helpful for films, photos, spreadsheets, and web pages in addition to document files. Computer forensic investigators would track a digital trail like a typical investigator does a paper trail, which is a collection of written evidence. This entails looking at digital data and its metadata—the distinctive identifiers connected to each digital file—to see whether there is any supporting information.

Usage for Metadata

• Metadata enables users to:
• Locate resources using pertinent criteria
• Determine resources
• Converge comparable resources
• Differentiate between resources; and
• Find the location of the information

Typical forms of Metadata

Metadata may be divided into the following categories:

Descriptive Metadata

Author, title, abstract, and keywords are frequently included in descriptive metadata, which provides information about a file's contents.

Structural Metadata

The link between various pieces of data and how they are put together are both areas covered by structural metadata.

Administrative Metadata

Administrative metadata includes information about ownership, rights administration, and other technical details like the application that was employed.

Preservation metadata

Metadata preservation assists in the administration and preservation of information resources. These sorts of metadata also include processes like data transfer and refreshing that are required to preserve both the digital and physical copies of resources, as well as record of the physical state of a specific piece of information. Documenting modifications that take place during preservation or digitisation is another use of preservation metadata.

Technical Metadata

Technical metadata is data that demonstrates how a system or piece of metadata acts. Technical digitization data like as formats, scaling procedures, and compression ratios are included in such metadata, as well as documentation for software and hardware. Technical metadata also includes data on security and authentication, such as encryption keys and passwords, as well as tracking of system response times.

How are Metadata Produced?

Both manual and automatic information processing can produce metadata. Because it just shows details like the file extension, size, and creation date as well as the author or creator of the file, automated metadata production is simple. In contrast, manual creation enables users to provide any pertinent details characterising a specific file.

How are Metadata used in Forensic?

Metadata essentially enables digital or computer forensic investigators to comprehend the "traces" and history of an electronic file. These digital traces must be appropriately kept because they are delicate. Consider how carefully genuine physical evidence must be handled at a crime scene to prevent contamination, missed cues, and evidence manipulation. The same care must be taken with metadata.

The following are some instances of metadata that might be useful in a criminal investigation:

• Recover file names, extensions, creation, modification, and access dates  for each file.
• History of executions, errors, records read and written, etc.
• Dates of the file's creation, modification, and access
• Access all of the data included in a document.
• See a document's hidden information
• Show evidence of your collaboration

When using digital forensic analysis as the basis for a lawsuit, the legitimacy of the evidence must be reliable, and metadata can assist establish its provenance. For example, files that have been relocated from their original contexts are seen as less reliable since there is a chance that the data may be altered if it is not present on the original device. Because of this, the majority of digital forensic professionals picture devices before evaluating the data they contain in order to preserve everything in its original setting. Additionally, having imaged copies of the original devices enables experts to evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of files generated from other sources in court by contrasting and contrasting them with those from the original devices.

Forensic Analysis of Metadata

Data may take on a variety of shapes. Databases, word documents, photos, full websites, emails, and chat sessions may all include data. The list might go on forever, but this is what necessitates the use of metadata. In addition to having access to a range of software, forensic scientists may investigate metadata using it. FTK, Paraben, or Metadata Assistant are a few Windows-compatible applications for metadata software. MacQuisition is frequently used by those who favour Macs to carry out searches and other tasks on metadata.

These software programmes provide accurate findings based on the available evidence. The forms allow a forensic scientist to observe, record, and produce reports on the data set under investigation. These programmes can examine the evidence and create the fingerprint required for comparison.

Conformity of Metadata

The information made available by metadata may be crucial to an investigator in spotting any alterations or manipulation, and it aids lawyers in drawing conclusions about the case. When evidence is not properly verified or subjected to enough scrutiny during the inquiry, the investigation may also fail. Use of inappropriate tools, systems, or application errors during the collection of evidence, failure to report exculpatory evidence, misrepresentation of evidence, inability to recognise pertinent evidence, and falsification of evidence resulting in misdirection are some of the various factors that could affect the validity of the evidence. The legal professional must thus comprehend how digital evidence is gathered, as well as the connection between the gathering process and the validation of possible evidence.

Examples of situations where metadata might be crucial include:

It can assist in offering an alibi: Say you have to provide evidence that your client was at home at 6 o'clock. She recalled looking at a few emails on her own computer and downloading their attachments. These would provide evidence that she was at home since the metadata would show that the files were saved to her machine at that time.

Recognizing fraud: Due to some of the subpar design work that was ordered, your customer is leery. When you look at the file's information, you discover that the designer didn't work on it at all; rather, a separate studio produced and worked on it, going against their agreement and charging the designer's higher charge.

Proof of foreknowledge: A customer asserts they were dismissed as a result of a colleague's deceptive email sent to their supervisor. Their employer says that the correspondence didn't influence her decision and that she just received it after your client was let go. But you can see from the metadata that she received and read the email before your customer was let go.

Finding the origin of a data leak: Tim insists that despite having access to the papers, he didn't provide trade secrets to a company's rival. You find out from the system's metadata that certain files were transmitted while Tim was logged in and that a USB drive was connected in for a short duration.

Metadata is brittle

It's quite simple to accidentally modify metadata. You'll alter the "last accessed" metadata date, for instance, if you:

• Launch a file
• Add a file to a different computer
• Put a file on a CD or DVD.
• Send an email

In reality, by just starting a computer with evidence on it, you may change hundreds of files. If you're attempting to establish when a privileged document was last accessed, this might be an issue.

 References

[1] S. Raghavan and S. V. Raghavan, 2014. “AssocGEN:Engine for analyzing metadata based associations in digital evidence,” Int. Work. Syst. Approaches Digit. Forensics Eng., SADFE,

[2] J.Riley, 2017 Understanding Metadata: What Is Metadata, and What is it for?.

[3] A. Spore, 2016.“Report Information from ProQuest,” no. June,

[4] Subli, Sugiantoro & Prayudi, 2017. “ Forensic Metadata to support the investigation process of the "scientific journal DASI

[5] S. Raghavan and S. V Raghavan, 2013. “A study of forensic & analysis tools,” 2013 8th Int. Work. Syst. Approaches to Digit. Forensics Eng., pp. 1–5,

[6] F. Alanazi and A. Jones, “The Value of Metadata in Digital Forensics,” Proc. - 2015 Eur. Intell. Secur. Informatics Conf. EISIC 2015, vol. 8, no. 2011, p. 182,

[7] P. R. Kumar, C. Srikanth, and K. L. Sailaja, 2016. “Location Identification of the Individual based on Image Metadata,” Procedia Comput. Sci., vol. 85, no. Cms, pp. 451–454, 2016.

[8] L. Drive, M. Hall, C. Hill, K. Woods, A. Chassanoff, and C. a Lee, 2013. “Managing and Transforming Digital Forensics Metadata for Digital Collections,” 10th Int. Conf. Preserv. Digit. Objects, no. November, pp. 203–208,

[9] R. Sharma and S. Koshy, 2011. “Promoting Open Source Technology in Education : NetBeans : The Perfect Open Source IDE,” vol. 4333, pp. 571–575,

[10] Y. Prayudi, 2014 “Problema Dan Solusi Digital Chain Of Custody Dalam Proses Investigasi,”April,

[11] U. Salama, V. Varadharajan, M. Hitchens, and DUMMY, 2012. “Metadata Based Forensic Analysis of Digital Information in the Web,” Annu. Symp. Inf. Assur. Secur. Knowl. Manag., pp. 9–15, 

 

Study of Death - Thanatology (Part-1) Video Lecture

Death can be defined as the end of life. The scientific study of death in all its aspects including its cause and phenomena is called thanatology.

In this video, we have covered the basics of thanatology. This is the first part of our video series. We have covered the following topics:

- Phases of Death

- Brain Death

- Major causes of Death

- Manner of Death

Hope you will find this video informative. Stay tuned for interesting, informative and engaging contents.

Links to other videos

Introduction to Thanatology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipcas...

Immediate Changes after death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXxTD...

Early Changes after death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDJxZ...

Algor Mortis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p7rU...

Livor Mortis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbqNj...

Rigor Mortis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p7rU...

Late Changes after death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP0-_...

Thanatology Playlist Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipcas...

 

India and its neighboring countries

India is a great country having extensive borders. Its total borderline is nearly 15000 kms. Its northern frontier stretches from Kashmiri and goes up to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam touching the border of Burma and Bangladesh.

In the north Kashmir is surrounded by Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet and China. Ladakh is the tri-junction where the frontiers of these three countries kiss each other. Afghanistan is though now friendly towards India, Pakistan and China are hostile.

Along the entire Himalayan range lies the kingdom of Bhutan. The Himalayan kingdom has a benevolent king Its customs, costumes, religion and manners are quite akin to India.

Nepal is a country, situated in the heart of the mighty Himalayas. Its capital is Kathmandu. India and Nepal are closely linked culturally and historically. The borders of India also touch the plateau of Tibet. This heavenly kingdom is now under the direct control of Communist China. It does not have good relationships with India. Tibet is Shangrila, a land of tranquility.

Pakistan is the closest neighbour of India. This country came into existence when India was partitioned in 1947. India has always tried her best to be friendly and cordial with Pakistan, but the latter has always been indulging in such activities as are injurious to India. Moreover, in September 1965, in December 1971 and in April-July, 1999, she launched attacks on India.

Why do we bury the dead in the ground?

Burial is a method in which a dead person or animal is placed into the ground. This is often practiced to pay respect for the dead. People look after them perhaps in the belief that there is some form of life after death. This method is also practiced to prevent the odor of decay and to avoid its smell. There are different methods for burials, i.e. natural burial, mummification, embalming and the use of containers such as shrouds, coffins, graves, etc.

      

          There is a long tradition of burying our dead that dates back more than 100,000 years. Some burial sites have been found at Mehrgarh, Pakistan by the archeologists which indicate that the burial method was practiced thousands of years ago. It is an important tradition and holds a great value to many, but let us explore more specifically why this is done.

            All religions have different traditions and rituals that serve to honor the dead and assist bereaved families in handling their grief. Each major religion has its customs concerning burial. Although that vary widely, the one common denominator is respected for the body.

            In Islam, the deceased are to be buried within 24 hours of death. “The 24 hours burial is not in the Qu’ran but is a cultural practice form the faith’s desire to respect the body and to avoid decay,” says Russell Mohammed. 

He is the director of the Mid-America Muslim Cemetery. The body is taken to cemetery (place where the remains of dead people are buried) after the prayers. They bury the body in the ground, where it becomes part of the soil. The upper part of the body, the head, is turned toward Mecca.

         
    In Hinduism, there is no burial. The bodies are burned in a special ceremony (Mukhagni). According to the Hindu religion, when someone dies, the soul passes into another body. 

Hindu funerals have three main parts:

1. Funeral in the family’s home

2. Mukhagni (cremation ceremony)

3. Shraddha (takes place about 10 days after the death)

 

The ashes of the burnt body are put in an urn and given to the family.

      

        In Christianity, people believe that dying is the end of a person’s life on earth, but that soul lives on in an afterlife. The funeral is typically held about one week after the time of death. It serves to reflect on the righteousness of the life that has one’s soul will go to Heaven. The three official goals of Christian funeral are:

1. Reflect on someone’s life on earth.

2. Pray to God that the loved one gets into Heaven

3. Give strength to friends and family to cope with their loss.

With most modern cultures cementing the location of their deceased with grave stones, can be hugely important.

Non -Religious Funeral

A non-religious funeral means a ceremony to honor the body that is not tied to any traditions, rituals or beliefs of any particular religion. Because there is no tradition set for non-religious burial ceremonies, they tend to be highly personalized. The guests who attend a non-religious funeral can expect a range of scenarios: an open casket funeral, a closed casket funeral, etc.

                                 

As we discussed, different religions have different rituals practice for burial and the reasons why we bury our dead are many. But the most important is that it reveals much about who we are and where we come from.

10 Rules for Positive Parenting

1.  Know your child. Parents fall short when they try to make their children more intelligent, assertive, and graceful or accomplished than they are naturally disposed to be. They fail them just as much when they ignore or deny their real talents and temperament. 

2.  Know yourself. Examine your motives in wanting more from your child. Parents may have their own shame or unmet needs that they project onto their children.

     Do you want our child to take dance lessons because your parents forced them on you? Were you a mediocre athlete but hope for trophy in the next generation?

3.  Educate yourself. Talk to other parents and your pediatrician, and read child-development books to learn what you can reasonably except from your child at each stage of his life.

4.  Empathize. Take time to see yourself through your child’s eyes. Do you act embarrassed by him? Do you point out only his mistakes? Would you want to be treated that way?

5.  Make adjustments. “No one responds well to someone who is accusatory or judgemental. If you find yourself harping on what your child can’t do, refocus on her strengths. Once you change your attitude, you may find that she changes too.

6.  Collaborate. Create a partnership with your child in which he can participate in setting appropriate goals and solving problems.

7.  Read how your child feels. Your child’s behavior- anger, fidgeting, procrastination- says a lot about whether she is being asked to do more than she can manage.

8.  Explore possibilities. A good way to encourage I to expose your children to a variety of environments, including sports, the arts, nature and science.

9.  Keep your eye on the end goal. A parent’s main objective should be to raise a child who loves well and takes pleasure in life. You don’t want to stifle curiosity, initiative and confidence.

10.   Avoid comparisons. A style of parenting that works for one child may backfire for his sibling. Every child has his own personality.

Tips for Speaking English Better

Language study requires hard work and careful effort. Some ways have proven themselves more successful than others. Ten such ways are given here for your improvement.

 1. Find a Partner.

 Communication in any language is really practical when there are two agents. Therefore, at the beginning you have to find a partner for making English conversation and it is better to find a partner from your peers with whom you are really comfortable to communicate may be with all your mistakes

           

2. Start thinking everything in English and use chunks.

 Don’t try to speak sentences translated from other languages. Always think in English and speak spontaneously. Talk to yourself. Play back in your mind the language what you just heard, mimicking (to copy the way somebody speaks) intonation, stress (an extra force used when pronouncing a particular word), etc. This will help you to improve your fluency.

 This helps the beginners particularly. Chunks are phrases or groups of words which can be learnt as a unit by one who is learning a language. Examples of chunks are ‘Can I have the bill, please?’ and ‘Pleased to meet you’, etc. This is another way to improve your fluency. It is because, while learning English, it is very important to notice how words are often heard together.

             

3.Don’t worry too much about Making Mistakes.

  Get over your shyness and hesitation. Use the language as often as you can; may be with a lot of mistakes at the beginning. Slowly, you will be all right. The more you speak the faster you will learn. Also don't try to avoid the “illers’ /noises’, “repetition of words’, ‘pauses’ etc.

Even the native speakers use “filler’ phrases to varying degrees. These are phrases like “What I’m trying to say is ...”, “If you know what I mean . . . “, “Let me think a minute here...”etc., which give speakers a small space to think before they express their next idea.

4. Don’t worry about starting trouble

  Even native speakers of English find it difficult to get started. So, don’t let the starting trouble disturb you. Using discourse markers (a word or phrase that organizes spoken language into different parts, for example ‘Well …’ or ‘On the other hand …’) is a good idea in handling starting trouble.

 Okay, all right, right then, well, hmm’, you know, like, etc., are all examples of discourse markers used in conversation. They are employed to give the speaker a second to think about what he wants to say. At the beginning don’t speak fast. Being fluent does NOT mean speaking quickly. It is better to speak slowly and clearly at the beginning than quickly and incoherently. People will not understand you if you speak too quickly with the wrong intonation (the rise and fall of the voice in speaking, especially as this affects the meaning of what is being said).

5. Don’t follow written English Style and don’t learn by heart.

 Don’t try to follow a formal written English style or don’t make deliberate attempts to speak full and complete sentences as in written English. Also don’t try to connect your sentences through logical connectors like ’Above all’, ‘in addition to’ etc.

                                             

6. Hear English Everywhere.

 Have you ever asked yourself: “How did I learn my own language?” In fact, you never really “learned” it at all - you just started speaking it. One day, when you were about two or three years old, you started speaking your language. A few words at first, not full sentences. But you spoke. And very soon you made progress without even thinking about it.

It was like magic ! But it wasn’t magic. It was the result of hearing. For two to three years before you spoke, you heard people speaking your language all day and may be all night. You heard people speaking your language. May be you listened to people, but more importantly you heard them. For two to three years, words went IN to your head.

Then words came OUT of your head! That is why hearing (and listening to) English as much as possible is so important to you now. The more English you put in, the more you’ll get out! There are many ways of hearing English:

Radio:

Two of the best international networks are the BBC World Service and Voice of America. Both of them have special programmes for learners of English. In addition to this you can make it a habit to listen to News broadcast by All India Radio.

Television:

TV helps both in hearing and listening to English. The pictures help you understand what is being said. Again BBC, CNN, DD News, NDTV24/7, Star News etc, are the good choices to serve our purpose. When you are watching TV, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are saying, imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.

Cinema:

Make it a habit to watch to English films. If you need to read the sub-titles, at least you’ll be hearing English even if you don’t understand it.

CD Player / Computer:

CD player has one really great advantage. You can hear/watch repeatedly by replaying them. If there are sub-titles, you can cover them with paper (which you can remove if you really don’t understand after listening several times).

Friends:

 Try to make friendship with English-speaking people so that you can practice your English through conversation. This will serve as an exercise for your speaking as well as listening. At least you can chat a little by telephone. Thus, if you want to speak English better in the future, speak it as much as, possible NOW! Finally, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything you hear. Hearing comes first! Understanding comes next!

 Record your own voice (if possible) and listen for pronunciation mistakes.

7. Develop your Active Vocabulary.

 Active vocabulary consists of the words you use frequently and comfortably in speaking and writing, while passive vocabulary consists of the words you recognize when you read and listen. So one has to increase his Active Vocabulary to be good speaker.

Learn new words every day. If you add 5 words a day, to your vocabulary, you will learn about 150 new words a month. As you are searching for words that you want to know, it will be easier to remember them. Do it this way

 a) Keep a small notebook handy: Think of a word you know in your mother tongue. As you read, study, listen to TV or talk with other people, note down words and expressions that you think would be helpful for you. 

b) Look it up in your dictionary. Refer only an English - English dictionary. Get into the habit of looking up words which you don't know and their phonetic symbols (for correct pronunciation of words when you are not sure).

 c) Write the English definition of every thing.

d) Copy a sentence from the dictionary. This will help you learn how to use the word correctly. Do not yet write your own sentence. Practice reading this sentence until it becomes natural for you.

8. Make Substututions.

 If you learn some basic sentences in English, you will be able to make unlimited number of sentences based on this basic structure. This process is called substitution. Let us see how it works : Basic sentence  : Do you speak English?

Substitutions:

 I. Do you speak Hindi / Do you speak Spanish? / Do you speak Tamil ? / Do you speak Greek? / Do you speak Italian ? (Just imagine how many sentences you can make substituting English).

II. Do your sisters speak English (Just imagine how many sentences you can make substituting you into your...

 III.Do you speak English fluently?  (Just imagine how many sentences you can make adding one more word )    

 9. Read aloud (the books that are not too difficult).

Read aloud in English for one to two hours each day. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you use when you speak English. It will also help you to Listen, Speak and learn new words.

Find a book that is not too difficult - don’t be embarrassed to start with a children’s storybook with pictures! Once you feel comfortable with these kinds of books, you can start reading simple short stories and then graduate to novels

 10. Make a promise.

It is said that zeal without action is fire without heat. So be active from today. Even make a promise to follow all the above tips. On one fine day you will be speaking fluent English. It is true like law of gravitation. Follow the AIM CARD that will be given to you at the beginning of the course. So this is a new day in your life. Look forward. Success will be yours.

Remember for speaking better in English you have to listen and read a lot.