Testing Digital Forensic Software Tools Used in Expert Testimony

An expert’s integrity is vital for the success of a legal case in a court of law; and witness experts are very likely to be challenged by many detailed technical questions. To deal with those challenges appropriately, experts need to acquire in-depth knowledge and experience of the tools they work with. This chapter proposes an experimental framework that helps digital forensic experts to compare sets of digital forensic tools of similar functionality based on specific outcomes. The results can be used by an expert witness to justify the choice of tools and experimental settings, calculate the testing cost in advance, and be assured of obtaining results of good quality. Two case studies are provided to demonstrate the use of our framework.