Summary

In this chapter, we learned what the most popular commercial forensic tools are and the importance of validating results by using multiple tools, comparing their outputs, and running validation tests before starting the examination.

Keep in mind that although these tools are extremely useful and make the investigator's job a lot easier, the tool itself is not the evidence. The report is not the evidence either. The evidence is the evidence, and it's the examiner's job to understand how that evidence was created, what it represents, and what insights can be gained from the analysis of that evidence. Forensic software definitely has a place, but it should not substitute manually examining the artifacts. In other words, use these tools but don't blindly trust them, and make sure you understand what is happening behind the scenes.

Further on in the chapter, we concentrated on two of these tools, Cellebrite Physical Analyzer and Magnet AXIOM. We learned...