JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD B.Tech IV CYBER FORENSICS Previous Question Paper (September - 2022 - R18)

Cybercrimes are broadly classified based on the target and the nature of the attack:

1. Crimes against Individuals: Includes harassment, cyberstalking, defamation, and identity theft where a specific person is targeted.
2. Crimes against Property: Involves unauthorized access to computer systems, transmission of malicious code (viruses, worms), and intellectual property theft or software piracy.
3. Crimes against Government: Known as cyber-terrorism, these acts target critical infrastructure, military networks, or government databases to disrupt national security or public order.
4. Financial Crimes: Includes phishing, credit card fraud, online banking fraud, and ransomware attacks aimed at monetary gain.
5. Content-related Crimes: Involves the distribution of illegal, obscene, or harmful content, such as child exploitation material or hate speech.

Digital Forensics is the systematic process of identifying, preserving, analyzing, and documenting digital evidence from electronic devices in a manner that is admissible in a court of law. The initial response is the most critical phase to ensure evidence integrity:

1. Identification: Determining the scope of the incident and identifying all potential digital evidence sources, such as hard drives, mobile devices, or network logs.
2. Securing the Scene: Preventing unauthorized access to the devices and ensuring that no data is modified, deleted, or overwritten.
3. Documentation: Recording the state of the system, including physical connections, screen captures, and taking photographs of the setup before any hardware is touched.
4. Collection: Safely seizing the hardware or creating forensically sound bit-stream images of the storage media using write-blockers to prevent data alteration.
5. Chain of Custody: Maintaining a rigorous log of who handled the evidence, when, where, and for what purpose to ensure its authenticity during legal proceedings.