Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

While conducting a validation study of proficiency test media we found that applying the same hash algorithm against a single CD using different forensic applications resulted in different hash values. We formulated a series of experiments to determine the cause of the anomalous hash values. Our results suggest that certain write options cause forensic applications to report different hash values. We examine the possible consequences of these anomalies in legal proceedings and provide best practices for the use of hashing procedures.

Microsoft’s Xbox game console can be modified to run additional operating systems, enabling it to store gigabytes of non-game related files and run various computer services. Little has been published, however, on procedures for determining whether or not an Xbox console has been modified, for creating a forensic duplicate, and for conducting a forensic investigation. Given the growing popularity of Xbox systems, it is important to understand how to identify, image and examine these devices while reducing the potential of corrupting the media. This paper discusses Xbox forensics and provides a set of forensically-sound procedures for analyzing Xbox consoles.