Digital evidence features in almost every part of our personal and business lives. Legal and business decisions hinge on timely data about what people have done. This module helps you understand how to conduct investigations to gather, analyse and present digital evidence to business and legal audiences. You’ll also learn how to find tools to locate and analyse digital evidence on various devices, including mobile phones, and how to keep up to date with changing technologies, laws and regulations in digital forensics.
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| Start |
End |
Fee
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Register |
| 01 May 2026 |
Oct 2026 |
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| Registration closes 09/04/26 (places subject to availability) Click to register
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| 01 May 2027 |
Oct 2027 |
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| Registration opens on 01/10/26
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This module is expected to start for the last time in May 2030.
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.
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 option module in our:
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 study material is online, so you’ll spend considerable time using a computer and the internet.
Some components might not be fully accessible using a screen reader. Mathematical and scientific materials can be particularly difficult to read in this way.
Written transcripts of audio components, figure descriptions and printable versions of texts are available.
If you’re using printed materials as part of reasonable adjustments to support your studies, note that printed versions of online materials are unavailable for this module.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.
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
- Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor (2.4 GHz minimum speed). It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
- Peripheral device – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials.
- Operating systems – Windows 11 only. Any other operating systems, including Mac, are unsuitable.
- Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
- Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended. Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.
- Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
- Software – Any additional software will be provided or is generally freely available.
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.
We regularly review the assessments in our modules, so we may update the examination method used for this module to an in-person exam or a remotely invigilated (proctored) exam. When we are making such a change, we will make it clear on this page. If we need to make a change after you have registered, we will notify you as soon as possible. If you have additional requirements, we will support you to complete your assessments.
Students also studied
Students who studied this module also studied at some time:
Future availability
Digital forensics (M812) starts once a year – in May.
It will next start in May 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in May 2030.
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.