Before we turn our attention to the New Year, let’s take a moment to reflect on the last. Below is a list of the five most read articles of 2011, if you missed any of them, you may want to go back and take a look before turning your sights on the future.

In The 2-Year Digital Forensics Degree, Christopher Curran and Christa Miller explore how community colleges fit in the ever-expanding field of digital forensics education. There are quite a few different ways, all with equal validity, to gain knowledge in the field of digital forensics. However, the least expensive for entry level is the community college.

Bruce A. Olson’s How to Be an Effective Expert Witness in Court offers invaluable information should you find yourself testifying on a case. His series takes you from understanding your role as an expert witness to preparing your expert report, presenting yourself at trial, and handling tricky questions from opposing counsel.

Cell phones are an increasingly important part of most cases, and Evan Dixon’s Mobile Phone Investigations: Best Practices will give you a good starting off point in these investigations.

Real world laboratory use, controlled internal tests utilizing scientific principles, and peer review should all be leveraged in a validation test plan. Josh Brunty’s guidelines for validating digital forensic tools in Validation of Forensic Tools and Software: A Quick Guide for the Digital Forensic Examiner will help you ensure quality findings in every case.

Finally, you never want to see valuable information slip through your fingers, but a lack of understanding of RAM analysis can result in just that. As the advancements of malware increase, along with full disk encryption, the acquisition and analysis of RAM will be that much more important. Mark Wade’s Memory Forensics: Where to Start will set you on the right path.

DFI News aims to provide you with the information you need to stay on top of the challenges you face in digital forensics. Contact us with any ideas you have for article topics, as well as any tips and techniques you’d like to share with your fellow investigators.