A Preliminary Examination of Tool Markings on Flash Memory Cards

Flash Memory Cards including Smart Media Cards, Sony Memory Sticks and other formats are currently used in a variety of devices including personal digital assistants, digital cameras, portable music and voice recording products. From a forensic viewpoint, it may often be necessary to demonstrate that a particular card has been used in a particular device. Sometimes this might be achieved through logical means such as by examining metadata within images captured with a digital camera. However this might not always be possible. In such cases, it may be helpful to be able to use tool markings found on media cards to tie a particular card to an individual device. This paper examines the possibility of microscopic analysis of striation markings on media cards as a possible forensic technique.