Virtualization and Forensics: A Digital Forensic Investigator’s Guide to Virtual Environments

Greg Kipper · Diane Barrett

Aug 2010 · Syngress

About this ebook

Virtualization and Forensics: A Digital Forensic Investigators Guide to Virtual Environments offers an in-depth view into the world of virtualized environments and the implications they have on forensic investigations. Named a 2011 Best Digital Forensics Book by InfoSec Reviews, this guide gives you the end-to-end knowledge needed to identify server, desktop, and portable virtual environments, including: VMware, Parallels, Microsoft, and Sun. It covers technological advances in virtualization tools, methods, and issues in digital forensic investigations, and explores trends and emerging technologies surrounding virtualization technology.

This book consists of three parts. Part I explains the process of virtualization and the different types of virtualized environments. Part II details how virtualization interacts with the basic forensic process, describing the methods used to find virtualization artifacts in dead and live environments as well as identifying the virtual activities that affect the examination process. Part III addresses advanced virtualization issues, such as the challenges of virtualized environments, cloud computing, and the future of virtualization.

This book will be a valuable resource for forensic investigators (corporate and law enforcement) and incident response professionals.

• Named a 2011 Best Digital Forensics Book by InfoSec Reviews
• Gives you the end-to-end knowledge needed to identify server, desktop, and portable virtual environments, including: VMware, Parallels, Microsoft, and Sun
• Covers technological advances in virtualization tools, methods, and issues in digital forensic investigations
• Explores trends and emerging technologies surrounding virtualization technology

About the author

Gregory Kipper is a futurist and strategic forecaster in emerging technologies. He specialized in IT security and information assurance for 17 years, working for the last 11 years in the fields of digital forensics and the impacts emerging technologies have on crime and crime fighting. Mr. Kipper has been the keynote speaker at select industry events, a digital forensics instructor, and a trusted advisor to both the government and commercial sectors. He has published books in the fields of digital forensics and emerging technologies, including: "Investigator's Guide to Steganography," "Wireless Crime and Forensic Investigation," and "Virtualization and Forensics."

Diane Barrett has been a contract forensic examiner at ForenTech since Oct. 2006 and is Professor for Computer Forensics and Network Security programs at the University of Advancing Technology. Additionally, Diane is the Faculty Council Chair for the systems development group and teaches several short online classes for web-based learning sites such as HP and Forbes. CCNA, CISSP, ISSMP, IAM/IEM Certified Steganographer, CCE Certificate of completion.