Open-Source software exists on everything from operating systems to daily productivity applications. In digital forensics, a very popular tool that is used to learn on and expand is Autopsy. Autopsy is known in the digital world due to its potential and wide usage. It is in many built packages of software inside the open-source world of applications. It is built into premade operating systems that are involved in Digital Forensics and Penetration Testing. Prebuilt OS includes Kali Linux and Computer Aided Investigative Environment (CAINE).
In the application to defend Open-Source software being just as good as closed-source software, I will conduct an experiment with a disk image that was provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The image provided was designated for Forensics Image Test purposes. There will be 3 virtual machines set up to show the capabilities of each tool to conduct digital investigation. Kali Linux and CAINE are Ubuntu based operating systems with several tools built in to perform digital forensics. The 3rd Virtual Machine will be Windows based with a fresh and new copy of Autopsy loaded. Utilizing the core application Autopsy, there will be evidence that will be gathered and analyzed. The functionality of the process to solve the digital case will be noted and will be compared to the closed source software. The functionalities of open-source and closed-source tools will be compared for similarities. After analyzing the similarities, the experiment proves that open-source forensic tools are just as effective and can be great tools for digital forensics.
","abstract_html":"<p>Open-Source software exists on everything from operating systems to daily productivity applications. In digital forensics, a very popular tool that is used to learn on and expand is Autopsy. Autopsy is known in the digital world due to its potential and wide usage. It is in many built packages of software inside the open-source world of applications. It is built into premade operating systems that are involved in Digital Forensics and Penetration Testing. Prebuilt OS includes Kali Linux and Computer Aided Investigative Environment (CAINE).</p> <p>In the application to defend Open-Source software being just as good as closed-source software, I will conduct an experiment with a disk image that was provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The image provided was designated for Forensics Image Test purposes. There will be 3 virtual machines set up to show the capabilities of each tool to conduct digital investigation. Kali Linux and CAINE are Ubuntu based operating systems with several tools built in to perform digital forensics. The 3<sup>rd</sup> Virtual Machine will be Windows based with a fresh and new copy of Autopsy loaded. Utilizing the core application Autopsy, there will be evidence that will be gathered and analyzed. The functionality of the process to solve the digital case will be noted and will be compared to the closed source software. The functionalities of open-source and closed-source tools will be compared for similarities. After analyzing the similarities, the experiment proves that open-source forensic tools are just as effective and can be great tools for digital forensics.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Herrera, Erik"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science – Cyber Security","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"College of Science and Mathematics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Christopher Ivancic","Brian Barngrover","Jianjun Zheng"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-08-10T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-08-10T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:45Z","subjects":["Digital","Forensics","Open-source","Tools","Software","Databases and Information Systems","OS and Networks","Other Computer Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/558","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Christopher Ivancic","Brian Barngrover","Jianjun Zheng"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Herrera, Erik"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-06-05T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["College of Science and Mathematics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science – Cyber Security"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Digital","Forensics","Open-source","Tools","Software","Databases and Information Systems","OS and Networks","Other Computer Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/558"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Open-Source software exists on everything from operating systems to daily productivity applications. In digital forensics, a very popular tool that is used to learn on and expand is Autopsy. Autopsy is known in the digital world due to its potential and wide usage. It is in many built packages of software inside the open-source world of applications. It is built into premade operating systems that are involved in Digital Forensics and Penetration Testing. Prebuilt OS includes Kali Linux and Computer Aided Investigative Environment (CAINE).
In the application to defend Open-Source software being just as good as closed-source software, I will conduct an experiment with a disk image that was provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The image provided was designated for Forensics Image Test purposes. There will be 3 virtual machines set up to show the capabilities of each tool to conduct digital investigation. Kali Linux and CAINE are Ubuntu based operating systems with several tools built in to perform digital forensics. The 3rd Virtual Machine will be Windows based with a fresh and new copy of Autopsy loaded. Utilizing the core application Autopsy, there will be evidence that will be gathered and analyzed. The functionality of the process to solve the digital case will be noted and will be compared to the closed source software. The functionalities of open-source and closed-source tools will be compared for similarities. After analyzing the similarities, the experiment proves that open-source forensic tools are just as effective and can be great tools for digital forensics.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Open-Source Forensics Tools are great tools for critical used machines"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Christopher Ivancic","Brian Barngrover","Jianjun Zheng"],"dc:creator":["Herrera, Erik"],"dc:date.available":["2024-06-05T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Open-Source software exists on everything from operating systems to daily productivity applications. In digital forensics, a very popular tool that is used to learn on and expand is Autopsy. Autopsy is known in the digital world due to its potential and wide usage. It is in many built packages of software inside the open-source world of applications. It is built into premade operating systems that are involved in Digital Forensics and Penetration Testing. Prebuilt OS includes Kali Linux and Computer Aided Investigative Environment (CAINE).
In the application to defend Open-Source software being just as good as closed-source software, I will conduct an experiment with a disk image that was provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The image provided was designated for Forensics Image Test purposes. There will be 3 virtual machines set up to show the capabilities of each tool to conduct digital investigation. Kali Linux and CAINE are Ubuntu based operating systems with several tools built in to perform digital forensics. The 3rd Virtual Machine will be Windows based with a fresh and new copy of Autopsy loaded. Utilizing the core application Autopsy, there will be evidence that will be gathered and analyzed. The functionality of the process to solve the digital case will be noted and will be compared to the closed source software. The functionalities of open-source and closed-source tools will be compared for similarities. After analyzing the similarities, the experiment proves that open-source forensic tools are just as effective and can be great tools for digital forensics.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/558"],"dc:subject":["Digital","Forensics","Open-source","Tools","Software","Databases and Information Systems","OS and Networks","Other Computer Sciences"],"dc:title":["Open-Source Forensics Tools are great tools for critical used machines"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["College of Science and Mathematics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science – Cyber Security"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:45Z"}