You know forensics tools are very expensive. I am new in this field and I can not afford to buy them at the moment. However there are some forensics tools around whose dongles are emulated or which are cracked.

I know it is illegal to emulate dongles or crack but my question is a bit different.

As I am newcomer to forensics field I wonder if the courts interrogate used programmes for reports are licensed or not.
Must I refrain to use such programmes or not?

Regards  

It is not nessesary to use commercial tool in DFIR. You can use freeware tools or do something manually.

Digital Forensics with Open Source Tools
www.amazon.com/Digital...1597495867

Top 20 Free Digital Forensic Investigation Tools for SysAdmins
techtalk.gfi.com/top-2...sysadmins/
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As I am newcomer to forensics field I wonder if the courts interrogate used programmes for reports are licensed or not.

I would put it differently, independently from whether the Court will be interested in the legalities of your agreement (or non-agreement) with the maker of the software[1], basically you will be making in Court a sworn statement that you used Tool "A" in your professional activity.

And this will be recorded in the acts of the Court (which tend to be very persistent and usually publicly accessible documents).

Now, two possibilities (up to you to evaluate the risks and consequences connected with them and the probability either may happen):
1) the software maker gets to know about that and sues you, having available what equates to a plain confession of the infringement
2) the solicitor of the other party (in the same or other trial) gets to know about that and manages to use this piece of info to invalidate your report and/or expert witness statement


jaclaz

[1] it won't
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We dont have forensic universal standart yet
only one thing is standart that hash and integrity so that
if you can verify your evidence you can use whatever tool you want  

You can get a lot done with adequate training (whether its paid or self taught by reading various books and research) and freely available and open source tools

If it were to come out that you are using pirated software to conduct your examinations your ethics may get called into question, and for no reason when there are freely available tools to use  

Legality of licensing issues aside ...

You could use this as an opportunity to make you a better forensic analyst ...

Use your cracked version of software to do "triage" then verify all of the evidence that you have found using a tool such as WinHex (which is free) - you'll have to learn how to find and interpret things yourself within the image, but when you write your report (a) your tool will be beyond reproach and (b) you'll actually understand how you got the results, rather than being a "button monkey" ...

Yes, it's more work - but that, generally is the way of life - things that you don't pay for tend to be harder ... The skills learnt will stand you in good stead though !

EDIT: You could, of course, extrapolate this to "Trial" versions of tools too ...
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...l such as WinHex (which is free) .

Free since when?

Last time I checked it it was Commercial:
www.x-ways.net/winhex/...rison.html

Relatively cheap when compared to many other "forensic tools", still:
www.x-ways.net/order.html

jaclaz
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- In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. -