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The NTFS File System

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The NTFS File System OVERVIEW: This lab is part of a series of lab exercises intended to support courseware for Forensics training. The development of this document is funded by the Department of Labor (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant No. TC-22525-11-60-A-48. In this lab, students will enumerate hosts on the network using various tools. This lab includes the following tasks: 1 – Examining the NTFS File System 2 – Using a HEX Editor to explore an NTFS Partition 3 – Verifying and viewing the image details 4 – Analyzing an NTFS Partition With Autopsy Key TermDescription The acronym NTFS stands for New Technology File System. The NTFS File System was originally introduced with the Windows NT. NTFS is a journaling file system which means it keeps a log of changes being written to the disk. If a computer is shutdown improperly, it will have a better NTFS chance of recovery if it has a journaling file system. Files and folder access can be restricted with the security feature of NTFS. Starting with Windows 2000, Microsoft included the Encrypted File System, or EFS, as an NTFS feature. EFS allows users to encrypt files to protect against unauthorized access. A Feature of the NTFS File system that allows you to encrypt files and folders. The feature EFS became available on the NTFS File system starting with Windows 2000, and is still available today on Windows 10 and Server 2016. An Alternate Data Stream, or ADS, is a feature of the NTFS file system that allowed compatibility ADS with older versions of the Mac OS. The feature can be utilized by an individual who is attempting to hide data on their system with an NTFS volume. The timestomp command allows you to change file Modified, Access, and Created times. The timestomp command can only change MAC times on an NTFS volume. $MFT The Master File Table is basically like the Table of Contents for an NTFS volume. Reading Assignment Introduction This lab investigates the New Technology File System (NTFS) which is one of the most commonly used file systems by the Microsoft Windows operating system. The NTFS is robust and includes many useful features such the ability to set security permissions on files and folders. Figure 1 shows the lab topology. FIGURE 1 – LAB TOPOLOGY This lab includes the following tasks: Examining the NTFS Using a Hex editor to explore an NTFS partition Verifying and viewing the image details Analyzing an NTFS partition with Autopsy File Systems Digital devices store information in Random Access Memory (RAM) or on storage systems like a hard disk or a solid-state drive (SSD). We will investigate the different file systems from Windows. Normally, operating systems provide this service “behind the scenes,” but it is critical you understand how these file systems work as a digital forensic specialist. File systems that are common to Microsoft operating systems include FAT (File Allocation Table) and NTFS (New Technology File System). Windows File Systems FAT File Allocation Table is a table that holds information about where files are stored on a volume. When a file is deleted from the disk, the entry or entries for those files are removed from the table and the space is marked as available. However, the file, or parts of the file, can remain on the disk until overwritten by information from new files that are written to the disk. There are many limitations to using FAT32. One is the fact that file sizes are limited to 4 GB. The other issue is that you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB in some versions of Windows, such as Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8. However, in some much older versions of Windows such as Windows 98 and Windows ME (Millennium Edition), users can create a 127.53 GB FAT32 volume. The likely reason for this is that the Windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems cannot read NTFS. NTFS The acronym NTFS stands for New Technology File System. The NTFS was originally introduced with the Windows NT. NTFS is a journaling file system which means it keeps a log of changes being written to the disk. If a computer is shut down improperly, it will have a better chance of recovery if it has a journaling file system. Files and folder access can be restricted with the security feature of NTFS. Starting with Windows 2000, Microsoft included the Encrypted File System, or EFS, as an NTFS feature. EFS allows users to encrypt files to protect against unauthorized access. EFS is a feature of the NTFS that allows you to encrypt files and folders. The feature became available on the NTFS starting with Windows 2000 and is still available today on Windows 10 and Server 2019. An Alternate Data Stream, or ADS, is a feature of the NTFS that allowed compatibility with older versions of the Mac OS. The feature can be used by an individual who is attempting to hide data on their system with an NTFS volume. Figure 2 shows the differences in structure between NTFS and FAT32 file systems. FIGURE 2 – NTFS VS. FAT32 (SOURCE: LINK) Hex Editors A hexadecimal or hex editor can be a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or command line tool that can be used to analyze the hexadecimal output of files. File headers have hexadecimal signatures that are unique to a particular type of file. Figure 3 shows the hex editor in Windows. FIGURE 3 – HEX EDITOR In this lab, you will review NTFS images in a hex editor. Introduction to Hashing Hashing is the process of taking in a stream of plain text and transforms the data into a hashed text using a hashing algorithm. You can use the hash to make sure that a message was not modified during transmission. Figure 4 shows the hashing process. In this lab, you are going to image a disk and use a hashing tool to get the hash value of that disk image. That hash can also make sure that the disk image was not tampered with. Hashed images are used in forensics investigations. Hashing is also used on files, passwords, and other pieces of data. FIGURE 4 – HASHING PROCESS (SOURCE: LINK) A hashing algorithm is what takes the data and creates a hash. There are many hashing algorithms that exist such as MD5, SHA1, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512. Let’s look at MD5, which is one of most insecure algorithms that exist today. The message digest algorithm (MD5) is an algorithm that creates 128-bit outputs. Although they are extremely rare, collisions could occur with an MD5 hash which means that two or more different inputs can result in the same 128-bit hash. The next algorithm is the Secure Hash Algorithm, SHA1, which creates 160-bit outputs. SHA-256 has a length of 256 bits or 64 hex characters, which is 2^256 combinations. SHA-384 is 384 bits long, which is 2^384 combinations, and SHA-512 which is 512 bits and 2^512 combinations. Let us take a closer look at hashing works. Figure 5 illustrates the hashing process. FIGURE 5 – HASHING PROCESS So, a hashing algorithm takes a message/data and breaks it up in blocks depending on the hashing function you are using. If the data is not a multiple of the hashing blocks (e.g., 256-bit block for SHA-256), then the last block will be padded. Each block is run through the algorithm depending on the number of blocks in the message/data. The first block runs through the algorithm, and then it runs through the algorithm with the second block, etc., until you get a hash. Linux’s dd In Linux, you have a command called dd that copies a file or a whole disk. It can be used to create an ISO disk image, which is used by systems to mount as a CD/DVD. You can use the following commands to create a hash based on the hashing algorithm such as md5sum, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha384sum, or sha512sum. You can use properties of a file in Windows to review the hashes for the image. Timestomp The timestomp command allows you to change file Modified, Access, and Created times. This utility can only be used to change MAC times on an NTFS volume. Figure 6 shows the timestomp command. FIGURE 6 – TIMESTOMP Autopsy Forensic Browser Autopsy Forensic Browser, a Graphical User Interface (GUI), is open-source forensic investigation toolkit that will allow a user to collect, examine, analyze, and report digital evidence especially disk images. Figure 7 shows the Autopsy Forensic Browser. FIGURE 7 – AUTOPSY FORENSIC BROWSER The Autopsy Forensic Browser runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X. Autopsy can be used to capture and analyze disk images, perform analysis, and create reports. One of the most important tasks an investigator performs is to produce a report of his or her findings. A built-in report generator in Autopsy reports on any tagged items. CONCLUSION: In this lab, you will use Autopsy Forensic Browser and a hex editor to investigate different Windows file systems (NTFS and FAT). Examining NTFS Features The most common Windows file systems are FAT and NTFS. There are several versions of NTFS. The older version included on Windows NT did not support the Encrypted File System, or EFS. Starting with Windows 2000, NTFS versions support the EFS feature. Viewing File Systems Log on to the External Windows 7 Machine 1. Click the START button in the adjoining window. INITIALIZING THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT 2.
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