Testing Digital Forensic Software Tools Used in Expert Testimony

From a legal perspective, digital forensics is one of the most potent deterrents to digital crime. While more than a dozen definitions of digital forensics have been proposed in the last ten years, the one common element in all of them is the preparation of evidence for presentation in a court of law. In the courtroom, the expert forensic witness gives personal opinions about what has been found or observed during a digital investigation. Such opinions are formed on the basis of professional experience and deductive reasoning. A digital forensic expert must be familiar with many forensic tools, but no expert can know or use all of the forensic tools available. Questions related to digital forensic software tools used in an investigation are often asked in the courtroom. Such questions may be phrased as: “have you personally used tool A?”; AbsTRACT