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Staying Invisible: Analyzing Private Browsing and Anti-forensics on Mac OS X

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Staying Invisible: Analyzing Private Browsing and Anti-forensics on Mac OS X (PDF, 4.83MB)Published: 25 Mar, 2021
Created by:
Rick Schroeder
The increasing desire to protect personal information has resulted in enhanced privacy features in web browsers. Private browsing modes combined with the growing popularity of disk cleaning tools present a problem for forensic analysts. The increase in privacy features results in a reduction of forensic evidence on the suspect system. This added complexity makes it difficult for an investigator to determine which websites were browsed by the suspect. When the primary sources of forensic evidence are tampered with, it is necessary to identify secondary sources. In Windows-based investigations, secondary evidence is often discovered within hibernation files, operating system artifacts, or error logs. Digital forensic analysts require similar files in macOS. They need to understand how and when logs are written. Identifying and understanding secondary sources of evidence is essential for an analyst to support the details of their case.

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