Computer forensics is any form of thorough and organized computer security investigation that seeks to determine what sequence of events occurred when a misuse or crime is suspected. Now, two leading investigators present the first complete guide to the field: investigative methods, tracking, evidence collecting, reporting, tools, legal issues, and more. With this practical book, any computer or legal professional can master the key skills of the professional computer forensics expert. The authors introduce the basic processes of computer forensics, evidence collection and analysis, demonstrating how to interpret clues inside mail messages and news postings, on hard drives and other computer storage media. The book contains forensics-oriented introductions to cryptography and encryption, digital signatures and time stamping, finding hidden data, handling hostile code, and contending with other hacker tools and robots. The final chapter provides an overview of the criminal justice process as it relates to computer security investigations -- including topics such as affidavits, subpoenas, warrants, and the chain of custody. For computer security professionals, system and network administrators, and law enforcement officials and consultants concerned with computer crime and investigations.