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If you live in the world of digital forensics, you see hard drives of all form factors and ages (along with plenty of dust bunnies). You also likely wipe and re-purpose hard drives quite regularly. You know more acronyms than your typical teen textaholic, and you went out and celebrated with friends when Serial ATA was released, because you were sickened by the old master/slave relationships associated with IDE/PATA drives. So why do we still see jumpers on SATA drives? Rest assured my friends, it has nothing to do with a master/slave relationship.

A DVR comes in to the lab and there’s not a single label on it. No identifying marks, labels, nada. The owner has no clue where it came from, nor any manuals or documentation. Sweet.

Well, in the past, one of the tricks of the trade was to take a photo (or two) and drop it in to Google image search. With any luck you stumble upon one that looks just like it. Success! Not so fast zippy, it’s rarely that easy, but I thought the following was worth pointing out.

Bing has now joined the image search game too, so the next time you’re in a similar pickle, be sure to give them both a shot at it. Good luck!

Alan Paller is director of research for the SANS Institute, a provider of security training and certification.

A few Sundays ago, the managing partner and IT partner from a large law firm in New York came to my home for a visit. It wasn't just for coffee. They had flown down to Washington to discuss what they might do in the aftermath of a troubling visit from the FBI.

Here's how the conversation went. Read full story >

LEVA Shield AwardsLEVA is proud to announce the Call For Entries for the 20th Annual Shield Video Awards competition, the only video competition designed exclusively for public safety professionals. Entries must be post-marked no later than Friday, July 3, 2009, and be received by July 10, 2009. Winners will be announced at the Shield Awards Banquet on November 20, 2009, during the 20th Annual LEVA Training and Development Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas. Visit www.leva.org for entry forms and further information.

The Association for Forensic Multimedia Analysis (AFMA) officially announced the results of their first ever board of directors election. The five members elected to the board of directors were Dorothy Stout, Sam Burgiss, Chuck Pruitt, Laura Teodosio, and Craig Thrane.

Those interested in becoming an AFMA member should send an email with the subject AFMA MEMBER REQUEST to info@theafma.org. After your request is made via email you will receive an invitation to the AFMA member's website.

Adobe yesterday patched 29 vulnerabilities in Reader, its PDF viewer, and 13 more in Flash, the popular Web media browser plug-in, as part of an even larger quarterly security update.

It was the first time that Adobe patched Reader X, the upgrade it issued last November that includes a "sandbox" anti-exploit technology in the Windows version.

Nearly all the Reader bugs were rated "critical," meaning that they could be exploited by attackers to plant malware on an unpatched system, although for several, Adobe wasn't certain that remote code execution was possible. Two of the 29 could lead to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, a common tactic by identity thieves who target browsers.

Full Story

According to the FBI, digital evidence is present in nearly every crime scene.   Increasingly, this evidence is found on handheld devices such as cell phones, GPS’, iPods—and is leading investigators directly to a suspect’s door—sometimes within hours of a crime taking place.

Register now for the FBI’s Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) Program's free webinar for law enforcement and government officials.  Participants will learn the proper handling of handheld devices at crime scenes, basic data recovery, legal issues and more.

Questions? Send an email to npo@rcfl.gov or visit www.rcfl.gov.

A great overview on the history of aspect ratio. I was going to link it to our library, but apparently I have to update the code for the Vimeo videos. Ugh. I'll get to it, just seems my to-do list is a bit like the NTFS $MFT...it only grows, never shrinks! ;)

The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo.

Magnetic tape has been used as a storage medium continuously from one of the first contemporary computers onwards -- the UNIVAC, in 1951. That gives it 60 years of unbroken use, from gigantic reel-to-reel rolls of the stuff to tape cartridges that might one day hold 70 terabytes apiece.

Full story:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26990/


Just a heads up that I will be doing some planned maintenance on DME Resources this weekend, so the site may be momentarily unavailable at times throughout the weekend. I will be adding some new functionality to provide users with more control of their content, along with a consolidated area where they can manage content and preferences.

As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for your continued participation. Have a great week!

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