What are Forensic Data Recovery Services and How Does it Work?
In India or any other countries, Extracting data from the damaged devices is very difficult. To successfully retrieve the information forensic data recovery services will be very helpful. Therefore, in this article, we will explain all the information regarding this topic. So, carefully read this guide to the end.
We start the article by understanding the basic term “Data.” Data refers to any information that is useful for the user. This can be in any form such as emails, text messages, images, videos, etc. In digital forensics, data is the most important part as we collect information from electronic devices.
The data will help as evidence that we present to the court. So, with this data, we can help to solve cybercrime. However, collecting data is not that, sometimes, we have to use the help of forensic data recovery services to extract important data.
What is Data Forensic Recovery?
When the forensic team goes for the investigation, sometimes they get damaged devices. Gathering data from these devices is very difficult; one must carefully extract the data so that there would be no harm to the important data. In this situation, we use forensic data recovery with different techniques and methods to extract the data from the damaged devices.
This is a stressful job where the professional not only has to recover the data but also maintain all the information as well. This is why experienced data forensic recovery agencies called for such work.
What Forensic Data Recovery Services in India Work For?
The main purpose of digital forensics for data recovery is to extract the data from the damaged devices. However, sometimes the process of retrieving information is hard, or sometimes is not. It depends on the condition of the gadget or media in which the data stored.
- There are mainly two techniques an investigator uses: non-destructive ways for recovering present and deleted or lost files without interfering with the existing hardware. Destructive ways, which involves physical changes to the devices like editing the creation date or metadata.
- The forensic investigator also performs other work. For example, reconstructing damaged hard drives, and accessing hidden areas of a computer to see suspicious activities.
Therefore, data forensic recovery is used in those investigation where the data is difficult to retrieve. This is the duty of the data forensic recovery agencies to protect the data. We understand how it works, let us see how the devices damaged and can lost the data.
Causes of Losing Data from Damaged Devices
To protect all the evidence, criminals sometimes harm the devices using various tactics that delete or lose important data. Below we listed all the factors that cause your data loss.
- Physical damage such as water or fire can destroy the media and it becomes a problem in collecting the information.
- Virus and malware attacks can also damage your internal storage of the devices.
- The software related issues like file system corruption and deletion lead to loss of the data.
- Hardware failure such as using faulty age-worn parts can be the cause of losing the data.
Therefore, there can be many ways of harming electronic devices. However, as long as the storage is not damaged, retrieving the data would be easy.
Significance of Forensic Data Recovery Companies in India
By most professional Not only extracting the data, data recovery in cyber forensics is very important for many reasons, which we explain below.
- Cyber crimes like hacking and unauthorized access occur, with the use of data recovery, the investigator reconstructs events, uncovers criminals, and understands the damage that they cause.
- Data loss creates a disturbance in the working of any organization. Using digital forensics for data recovery, we can recover lost or corrupted data which helps in improving the smooth run of business activities.
- Reconstructing the events allows experts to rebuild the timelines of events up to the incident. This makes it easier to understand the incident that happened and prevent it from happening in the future.
- The investigator extracts the data to act as evidence for court trials.
It also helps to recover lost civil cases such as business records and intellectual property.
Thus, data forensic recovery agencies provide many services like retrieving data, providing evidence, helping in understanding the security breach, etc. Now, let’s see how the forensic team recovers the data.
Procedure Forensic Data Recovery Services Uses
Recovering data is not simple as the experts have to consider many things. Also, to extract the data the process is long and time consuming. But, it will act as guidance to gather information. Therefore, we provided all the steps to get the required information from the damaged devices.
- Identification: The first step of the process is to identify the device and the cause of the damage. If the storage space is still intact, we can search the information from the storage media.
- Collection or Acquisition: When we find the information that we found we then save the data to a secure location. In this, we have to make sure the data we are collecting will not harmed.
- Analyzing the Information: Now, we analyze the data that we acquired to search for information that is relevant to the case. We use various tools for this.
- Recovery: If it is necessary then the investigator retrieves the lost, deleted, hidden, or encrypted data. We use software like reconstructing damaged files.
- Documentation: In this step, we create a report explaining the data we recovered and how we get them. Later this report used in court procedures.
- Reporting: At last, we report to the high authority with a detailed report containing the summary of the whole process. Such as what information we got, what technique we used, etc.
After the process, the follow-up action will be up, like if we have to provide any further explanation to the court. Forensic data recovery services will also do. So these are the steps that used in the data recovery investigation. Now, apart from that, some techniques help in digital forensics for data recovery.
Techniques Data Forensic Recovery Companies Use
Above you have read different ways to extract deleted or lost data. Now, to retrieve them there are various methods available. Each method is used in different scenarios so keep in mind that the options do not work in all situations.
- File System Analysis: It is used to make your hidden file visible. Here, the forensic export examines the directory structures and metadata of the file systems saved in storage devices. We use metadata timestamps, journaling, and file allocation tables (FAT) to uncover your files.
- Data Carving: In this technique, we search and extract particular file patterns or signatures by scanning the raw data on the storage devices. The Data carving reconstructs the files by identifying different file headers, footers, file signatures, etc. It is used even if your metadata is lost.
- Live Data Acquisition: When you need to recover your data, forensic tools are available that collect the data from the current operating systems or volatile memory. This method is used to record information which becomes unreadable when turning the device off.
- Replication and Imaging: When you have to create a copy of an image of the original storage device this method is used. Here, the investigator works on duplicates of the original device to ensure the data integrity. From this method, the possibility of tampering and destroying the evidence will be reduced.
- Memory Forensics: It is used to examine a system’s volatile memory (RAM). You can also extract data that may not saved on the hard drive but contain important information like active processes, open network connection, and encryption keys.
Therefore, these are the techniques used by every specialist to recover your deleted data or from the damaged devices. Now, let’s look at the applications that are helpful in the investigation.
Popular Softwares Used by Data Forensic Recovery Companies
Specialized tools are very helpful in data recovery services to easily gather and analyze information. By using this software, we can collect more evidence that we can’t find alone. Hence, below is the list of famous utilities used by every investigator.
- MailXaminer Tool: It is an advanced email forensics tool that helps you to recover deleted emails. The software is used to search emails from various email clients such as Office 365, Gmail, Live Exchange server, etc. it easily analyzes information from E01 and DD file formats.
- X-Ways Forensic: This software is known for its speed and efficiency in forensic data recovery. It offers advanced features for data carving, file system analysis, keyword searching, and timeline analysis.
- Sleuth Kit (including Autopsy): An open-source library and command-line tools for analyzing forensics. Autopsy tool provides a graphical interface for using the Sleuth Kit software.
- Cellebrite UFED (Universal Forensic Extraction Device): This software is widely used for mobile device forensic investigation. From this tool, you can extract data and analyze it from different mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.
- Passware Kit Forensics: It specializes in the recovery of passwords and decryption. The utility also supports a wide range of file formats and encryption methods commonly encountered in the investigations.
- PhotoRec: An open-source program that is used to restore images and other media files from different electronic devices. It disregards file systems and focuses on the underlying data used to recover your file from formatted storage.
These are some of the famous tools used by many experts in their investigations. As these are easy to use and great results become popular.
Forensic Companies that Provides Data Recovery Services
Till now we have learned many things about forensic data recovery services. Now, let’s know about the companies in India that offer services for data recovery. Data recovery is a part of digital forensics, so many agencies in India are cyber forensics oriented. Among them is SysTools Digital Forensics Services company which also provides data recovery facilities with other services such as drone services, email services, cyber crime investigation services, etc.
Other than that, they also provide tools to help in the investigation process, but their main focus is to provide great forensics services in India. Systools has many clients in India including the Income tax department, the defense army, big and small corporate companies, and many individuals. They have India’s best skilled and experienced team of professional investigators who have worked on many big cases. Therefore, India has the best services in forensic data recovery and other related services.
Concluding Words
During the investigation, officers may find the devices that are damaged or the data lost. In that case, we take the help of forensic data recovery services. The agencies provide a systematic way to recover your data from deletion or damaged devices. This can be done through various steps and have their methods and tools that help them in gathering the relevant evidence. Other than that, there are specialist companies in India that provide the best services in this field.