Trade Magazines

I've been looking around for something like this myself…we should start one.

Harlan

As you say, most of the peer reviewed journals cost money, so there's no redundancy there.

debaser_, what article titles do you see listed in those journals that you'd like to be able to see the actual content?

What I'm referring to is something a little more practical, not as academic as some of the journals.

> I liked the peer reviewed journals because the topics were a few steps above this.

Agreed. I find the same thing with things like 2600 and Blacklisted 411…these mags are a couple of steps above "basic", but lack credibility and rigor.

> The end all is, you'll never know if you dont try. I am a pessimist, but given
> the activity on these boards I may be wrong. There are a good amount of
> people seriously interested in the topic.

I agree with what you say…so when are you going to try? Is this one of those "…oh, I didn't say *I* would write it…" things?

I also agree that there are a good amount of people interested…but I also believe that the number of those who would actually contribute is actually quite small. When I've spoken at conferences about USB devices, I've been asked about firewire devices…but no one in the room was willing to contribute any firewire devices, even on a temp. loan basis.

I, for one, have contributed to some of the journals you've read, and would be willing to do so again in the future.

Harlan

> What do you think that a trade magazine will offer us that we dont already get from somewhere else?

I think that there's quite a bit of opportunity, particularly for writing some of the articles that are already out there from the view of a forensic analyst. Mags like PC Mag (and the older BYTE) had some great articles, but sometimes digging what a forensics analyst would need out of it is pretty hard.

If we could get separate Windows, Linux and Mac "corners" with useful content, I can see a use for it.

> We cant wait a whole month for our information fix.

I'm not suggesting that we give those up. One section could easily be distilling what appears out there on other sites, as well as here…just giving the useful info without all the fluff or responses that have little to do with the original question.

Would you be willing to contribute? If so, in what area?

Just wanted to add something…

I was over on SecurityFocus just now, and noticed that the Forensics list hasn't been updated in a while. I dropped down to the Binary Analysis list and saw what you see on public lists quite a bit…someone asked about unpacking binaries packed w/ PECompact2, and one response was "yes, you can unpack these, though it depends on how it's packed". Ah…duh.

My thought on a forensic emag would, at least in part, be to cull through things like this and filter out some of the wheat, leaving the chaff behind and putting useful, credible info out there.

To be honest, this doesn't need to be print…but then, writing in Word makes it easy to post in Adobe and HTML….

It is my opinion that what needs to be covered, is asked the most on here. It seems every week or so a Certification of some type is discussed. Maybe a review of Certifications/education. How about a review on hard and soft-ware, as well as books and tools/accessories. Lastly, I would ask one of the "Associations" such as HTCIA to write an article on what is important in their world right now.

I will be willing to write a review on the Certs that I have as well as some of the hardware I currently use.

I don't want to derail this excellent train of thought, but back to my original question about trade mags, it sounds like the answer is "no, there aren't any." However, I did see the following mentioned. If someone could give me some info on where to find them …

* Digital Investigation
* 2600
* Blacklisted 411
* SecurityFocus

Regarding the magazine - please count me in. I'll contribute in any way that I can. I think m7esec and debaser_ have layed out a good foundation. Don't forget about "reader mail" and a Q&A section. Also, you'll want a couple of "back page" columns like Shark Tank and Frankly Speaking (to use Computerworld as an example).

edited

When I attended the Innovations In Digital Forensics Practice in March, they were giving out free copies of the "Journal of Digital Forensics Practice" (well, I was under the impression we were getting a years subscription but my June copy hasn't turned up.. )

I thought it was pretty interesting and well written, so good job there. They were asking for more contributors constantly throughout the conference, so if you just want to write for a journal (instead of making money off it 😉 then I'm sure they'd be happy to receive submissions from you. The articles roughly take the form of academic papers, but aren't too stuffy.

You can request a free copy from http//www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/15567281.asp>. I think it's $85/£52 a year for a personal subscription (4 issues), which is still pricey, but slightly more bearable than other journals running into the hundreds per issue.

As for the others, I've only read Blacklisted once and wasn't very impressed, and I believe that 2600 has had about two articles of technical merit in the last three years - it's been going seriously downhill.

I think that probably online resources are your best bet now, although finding them can be a little haphazard. Sites like this one are good, Andreas Schuster's Forensic Blog (http//computer.forensikblog.de/en/) was very useful to me in my work a while ago although primarily based on memory forensics, and things like http//www.rootkit.com have some useful bits about how people try to hide data. It's a cliche but even Phrack ([urlhttp//www.phrack.org has some useful details on how malware and other bits work which can be turned around to be a plus for forensic investigations. It's technically not being written anymore, but the archives are still up.

HTH