Digital evidence features in just about every part of our personal and business lives. Legal and business decisions hinge on having timely data about what people have actually done. This online module will help you understand how to conduct investigations to correctly gather, analyse and present digital evidence to both business and legal audiences. You will also learn how to find tools to locate and analyse digital evidence on a variety of devices, including mobile phones, and how to keep up to date with changing technologies, laws and regulations in digital forensics.
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01 May 2023 |
Oct 2023 |
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Registration closes 06/04/23 (places subject to availability) Click to register
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May 2023 is the final start date for this course. For more information, see Future availability.
What you will study
This online module provides a broad and practical introduction to the fundamentals of digital forensics. It begins by setting the context of digital forensics in the wider discipline of traditional forensic science to show how many of the principles and techniques still apply, including investigation skills, evidence handling, note taking and reporting. You will then take a detailed look at some of the English civil and criminal laws particularly relevant to digital forensic investigations and learn how to find the law, both in England and Wales and other jurisdictions. Using written material and videos, you will learn the principles of legal report writing and giving oral testimony.
We look at the architectures of the digital systems that are likely to require examination and teach the principles that allow you to identify the relevant architectures of new and evolving devices. You will learn to find and use both open source and commercial digital forensic tools to acquire and analyse digital evidence by doing practical exercises. Using written material and videos, you will develop competence as first responders to a digital forensic incident. The teaching will then expose you to the challenges of network forensics in a client-server network, virtualisation, and network traffic analysis.
Mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, are an important part of our everyday lives and therefore important sources of evidence in many forensic investigations. Through videos and practical exercises, you will develop the skills to conduct a forensic examination of a mobile device and be able to apply these to new devices as they are released. A number of advanced topics will be introduced including Internet Intelligence and malware analysis. The module concludes by helping you consolidate the concepts and skills you have learned to help an organisation prepare appropriate plans for forensic incidents.
You will learn
This module is particularly relevant for students wishing to begin a career in digital forensics. It was designed to match the learning outcomes for the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) accreditation standards for digital forensics and some of the qualifications requiring M812 are recognised by the CSFS.
Vocational relevance
This module is appropriate if you are a computing student wanting to gain a further understanding of how digital forensics can be applied in both legal and business environments. It is appropriate if you want to enhance your career options in computer security or digital forensics.
Entry
It is expected that you will hold a bachelors degree (or equivalent) in computing or a related discipline, or alternatively have at least three years relevant industry experience.
Your spoken and written English must be of an adequate standard for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, we recommend that you will need a minimum overall score of 6 and minimum score of 5.5 in each of the four components: reading, writing, speaking and listening under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please see the IELTS website for details.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
Outside the UK
Although the laws referred to in the module are those of England and Wales, the module also helps you develop the skills to find relevant laws both in the UK and other jurisdictions. We use specific exercises to ensure that you are exposed to cross-jurisdictional legal issues and can find relevant local laws and regulations. All of the other teaching is relevant worldwide.
Preparatory work
You would benefit from some experience of using:
- more than one operating system – Linux in particular
- programs with a command line interface
- a virtual machine through software such as Oracle VirtualBox or VMware.
Qualifications
M812 is a compulsory module in our:
M812 is an optional module in our:
This module can also count towards M03, which is no longer open to new students.
Excluded combinations
Sometimes you will not be able to count a module towards a qualification if you have already taken another module with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this module, visit our excluded combination finder or check with an adviser before registering.
If you have a disability
The materials for this module are provided as a series of web pages via the module website and should be accessible using screen readers. Figure descriptions of any diagrams will be provided along with transcripts of any audio material and printable versions of the online text based material. Some online material may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader (and mathematical and scientific materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way).
Alternative formats of the study materials, such as epub and Kindle versions, may be available in the future. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer, or think you may have difficulty using the online material you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Study materials
What's included
This module is presented online. All study materials will be available on the module website, including:
- details of how to download and install VirtualBox and a current forensic investigation application
- four blocks of core texts
- access to module books available at the library
- module assessment
- exercises, YouTube videos and podcasts to support the teaching.
You will need
Having a second computer and mobile phone, possibly old or obsolete, may be useful for conducting forensic examination exercises.
Your computer will require a camera and microphone in order to complete the oral assessment as part of your final assignment (TMA).
Computing requirements
You’ll need broadband internet access and a desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11). Any macOS is unsuitable with this module.
Any additional software will be provided or is generally freely available.
To join in spoken conversations in tutorials, we recommend a wired headset (headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone).
Our module websites comply with web standards and any modern browser is suitable for most activities.
Our OU Study mobile app will operate on all current, supported versions of Android and iOS. It’s not available on Kindle.
It’s also possible to access some module materials on a mobile phone, tablet device or Chromebook. However, as you may be asked to install additional software or use certain applications, you’ll also require a desktop or laptop as described above.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
Throughout your module studies, you’ll get help and support from your assigned module tutor. They’ll help you by:
- Marking your assignments (TMAs) and providing detailed feedback for you to improve.
- Guiding you to additional learning resources.
- Providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content.
- Facilitating online discussions between your fellow students, in the dedicated module and tutor group forums.
Assessment
The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box above.
You must use the online eTMA system to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).
Students also studied
Students who studied this module also studied at some time:
Future availability
Digital forensics (M812) starts once a year – in May.
This page describes the module that will start in May 2023.
We expect it to start for the last time in May 2023.
How to register
To register a place on this module return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our
Student Policies and Regulations website.