Digital Forensics Fundamentals

Digital forensics is field of study within cybersecurity that focuses on the extraction, preservation and analysis of digital information and data. Digital forensics is commonly used in law enforcement, government and the business sector for various purposes.

UPDATE: This is version 1 of Digital Forensics Fundamentals initially released in 2022 which will not be updated. Subsequent versions with updated content will be released on our site. Soon the course will be accompanied by a free certification process to help solidify your knowledge and skills. Our promise is to keep this course free forever to help facilitate those who wish to enter a career in digital forensics and cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing fields of study within the computer science industry with expected job growth of 33% over the next 10 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, job postings for cybersecurity roles have already drastically increased ahead of schedule pointing to the possibility that the industry may be growing faster than anyone anticipated. Digital forensics is an aspect of cybersecurity that involves the acquisition, recover and analysis of data found on information systems. Digital forensics is commonly used by law enforcement, government and businesses throughout the world. Whether the goal is to catch criminals or uncover vulnerabilities in an information system, digital forensics is an important field of study that can be viewed as one of the foundational skills of cybersecurity.

By learning digital forensics you will gain a deep understanding of many foundational elements of cybersecurity. This includes understanding file systems, operating systems, cryptography, types of cyber attacks, threat analysis, data visualization, analytic methodologies, forensic toolkits and much more. Learning digital forensics allows you to approach cybersecurity from the ground up, giving you a much better understanding of how things work behind the scenes. This will become an invaluable skill and knowledge base that you will carry with you throughout your career.

In this program you will learn about the four types of digital forensics and how they are used in the real world. Each use case for digital forensics requires different rules and regulations to follow. Understanding concepts such as chain of custody, order of volatility and various legal standards are important when conducting digital forensics. Additionally, you will learn foundational concepts about capturing digital data such as forensic imaging, file systems, operating systems, cryptography and the digital forensics process. Lastly, we will walk you through 12 tutorials using free forensic tools that you can start using today to practice your digital forensics skills. These tools will teach you how to capture hard drive data, recover deleted files, forensically analyze network data, extract data from mobile devices and much more. By the end of this program you will not only know the fundamentals of digital forensics but you will be able to actually conduct various types of digital forensic tasks and functions with real world applications.