Finding Digital Forensic Evidence in Graphic Design Applications

Graphic design applications are often used for the editing and design of digital art. The same applications can be used for creating counterfeit documents like identity documents (IDs), driver’s licenses or passports among others. However the use of any graphic design application leaves behind traces of digital information which can be used during a digital forensic investigation. Current digital forensic tools examine a system to find digital evidence but they do not examine a system specifically for the creating of counterfeit documents. This paper reviews the digital forensics analysis process involved in the creation of counterfeit documents by determining and corroborating the events that previously occurred. The analysis is achieved by associating the digital forensic information gathered to the possible actions taken, precisely, the scanning, editing, saving and printing of counterfeit documents. The digital forensic information is gathered by analyzing the files generated by the particular graphic design application used for document creating. Another analysis is conducted on user generated files, the actual files that can be used as potential evidence to establish file structural contents and the relationship with the associated actions. This involves analyzing the user generated files associated with these applications and determining their signatures and related metadata. Contextually, the authors illustrate an evaluation disclosing the digital forensic evidence gathered from graphic design applications.