Building a Digital Forensic Laboratory

Chapter 18. Computer Forensics Investigation Unit Metrics Management System

Introduction

Tracking the life of any assignment from receipt in the laboratory to return to the customer is of crucial importance. Within this process must be embedded the requirement for continuity of the evidence or chain of custody records so that the courts may be satisfied as to the veracity of the process. Also, there must be a record of the hours spent so that the profitability is not sacrificed to the inherent curiosity of an examiner or his or her desire to examine every last artifact.

The tracking and the hours spent on imaging and analysis need to be carefully accounted for so that each assignment provides a profit, and although there may be a view that the ...