ForensicReporting-ComputerEngineering.ppt

COEN 252 Computer Forensics Writing Computer Forensics Reports Forensics Reports Forensics reports only state findings. If they draw conclusions, than they are expert testimony. Expert Report A report that offers an opinion is an expert report. Writer of the report needs to qualify as an expert. An expert report used in court has additional requirements. Expert’s expertise and trustworthiness are on trial, too. Expert Report Fundamental Decision: Daubert DAUBERT et ux., individually and as guardians and litem for DAUBERT, et al. v. MERRELL DOW PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. Juries decides on “matters of fact”, not on “matters of law” What is placed before a jury is tightly regulated Rules of Evidence. Most testimony is limited to relaying sensory experiences, interpreted by the jury according to common sense. Experts provide insight that common sense does not offer. Expert Report An expert offers an opinion by applying the expert’s specific knowledge to the specific circumstances of the case. An export can also testify to general scientific or technical principles and leave their application to the jury. Expert Report engineers opinions on whether a products poor design renders it needlessly unsafe; accountants opinions on whether someone has followed prudent accounting practices; physicians opinions on whether some particular bodily insult was the cause of someones medical condition; economists opinions on whether a firm possesses monopoly power; statisticians opinions on whether a firms employment decisions correlate closely with race or gender; forensic opinions on matches between samples of DNA, blood, hair, etc.; appraisers estimates of the value of specific property. /Chapter_1.htm Expert Report Expert testimony potentially misleading. Frye test (1929): scientific evidence is admissible only if the principles on which it is based have gained “general acceptance” in the scientific community. Federal Rules of Evidence (1973): If scientific, technical, or other