What is a forensic audit, and why do they require digital forensic services?

Here at DLA, some of our top clients include forensic auditors, as they require our digital forensic services for their forensic audits. But what exactly is a forensic audit and what does it mean?

Read on to explore and find out what a forensic audit is, when they are used and how they are used in court…

A forensic audit may sound like something quite exciting that you’ve probably heard on crime dramas like CSI and Law and Order, but the truth is, it is a little more boring.

A forensic audit is the process of reviewing person’s or companies financial statements to determine if they are correct and lawful. Forensic accounting is most commonly associated with tax audits, but can also be commissioned by private companies for digital forensic investigations.

So, when are forensic audits used? Forensic audits are used wherever an entity’s finances present a legal concern. For example, it is used in cased of suspected embezzlement, fraud, to investigate a spouse during divorce proceedings and so much more. This is where digital forensics comes in; our services are specifically designed to help forensic auditors in these cases.

Forensic audits are performed by a class of professionals with skills in both criminology and accounting, so they specialize in following a money trail, keeping track of fraudulent and actual balance sheets and checking for mistakes in income reports and expenditures. If they find any discrepancies, it may be the forensic auditor’s job to investigate and determine the reason for it, with the help of a digital investigator if digital evidence is needed!

How are forensic audits used in court? They are presented as evidence by a prosecutor or by a lawyer representing an interested party. Because finance is so complicated, the way a forensic auditor will describe a company’s financial position is often very precise. Because of this a prosecutor or lawyer will call an expert witness to explain the forensic audit in simpler terms in order to build a case.

Forensic audits cover a wide range of activities, and they can be a part of many different investigations, digital forensic investigations being one of them.

The Different phases of a Computer Forensics Investigation

Here are the following steps investigators should follow to retrieve digital evidence…

1. Secure the computer system to ensure that the equipment and data are safe. This means digital investigators must make sure that no unauthorized individual can access the computers or storage devices involved in the search.

2. Find every file on the computer system, including files that are encrypted, protected by passwords, hidden or deleted, but not yet overwritten. Digital investigators should make a copy of all the files on the system. This includes files on the computer’s hard drive or in other storage devices.

3. Recover as much deleted information as possible using applications that can detect and retrieve deleted data.

4. Reveal the contents of all hidden files with programs designed to detect the presence of hidden data.

5. Decrypt and access protected files.

6. Analyze special areas of the computer's disks, including parts that are normally inaccessible.

7. Document every step of the procedure. It's important for digital investigators to provide proof that their investigations preserved all the information on the computer system without changing or damaging it.

All these steps are incredibly important in a computer or digital forensics investigations, make sure you follow them all to ensure an effective investigation.

DLA Digital and cellular forensics can provide you with the digital evidence that you need! Let us follow the electronic trail to find and protect the evidence that you need.