Investigating Windows systems with Linux
Comparatively Simple
With the addition of a couple of extra packages, the Windows world is wide open to an investigator running Linux. If you need more of this good thing, take a look at the free forensic tools by Foundstone [14]. These tools give investigators the ability to restore cookies, long-gone entries from the Windows trash can, and many other things.
Experienced Linux users might find the shell approach refreshing, but some users will prefer to avoid the complex command-line syntax. The learning curve for Linux newcomers will likely be steeper for open source tools compared with more expensive commercial products. The winner in the usability stakes has to be the fully automated Ophcrack Live CD, which removes the need for users to type pesky shell commands and displays the local user's Windows passwords shortly after booting.
When we tested this on an XP system (SP2), the CD took just 280 seconds to discover the credentials of the five user accounts (which included up to 14 characters; see Figure 5). The live Linux version on the CD includes just the tables for alphanumeric passwords without non-standard characters. If you want more, you will have to invest in the commercial Rainbow Tables.
Infos
- Guidance Software: http://www.guidancesoftware.com
- X-Ways: http://www.x-ways.net/corporate/index-m.html
- Ewfacquire: https://www.uitwisselplatform.nl/projects/libewf
- Helix: http://www.e-fense.com/helix
- Endianness: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness
- The Sleuth Kit: http://sleuthkit.org
- Wikipedia on file slack: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File-Slack
- bmap: http://www.packetstormsecurity.org/linux/security/bmap-1.0.17.tar.gz
- File slack analysis on Linux: http://www.woerter.at/dud/stuff/fileslack.pdf
- Pasco download: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/odessa/pasco_20040505_1.tar.gz?modtime=1083715200&big_mirror=0
- Mork.pl: http://www.jwz.org/hacks/mork.pl
- Dumphive: http://v4.guadalinex.org/guadalinex-toro/pool/main/d/dumphive/dumphive_0.0.3-1_i386.deb
- Ophcrack and Ophcrack Live CD: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net
- Foundstone Forensic Tools: http://www.foundstone.com/us/resources-free-tools.asp
« Previous 1 2 3 4
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.