I hope the following is useful.
I've found sourcing articles quite a challenge for Forensic Focus, it has certainly been more difficult than I envisaged it would be. Admittedly I don't offer any financial incentive for contributions unlike some of the larger sites (I wish I could!) so perhaps that has something to do with it but by and large I've just found it very difficult to encourage good writers to contribute on a regular basis.
No doubt I could do more to solicit new articles and the last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from putting something together but I just wanted to highlight the amount of time and effort which is involved.
Kind regards,
Jamie
Jamie,
I'm not surprised…I've felt that to be the case for a while, and sites like this have (unfortunately) proven it. I've also run across folks who put forth one effort, and one effort only, and will not accept editing comments whatsoever, even though they have neither training nor experience to write something up.
Re the magazine listing. I've picked up both 2600 and B/L 411 at the local bookstore several times over the past couple of years and been sorely disappointed in the quality of the writing. I firmly believe that something academic is just as useless with regards to day-to-day functionality, but I also believe that there needs to be a standard of writing that contains a bit more academic rigor.
I look at it this way…we're all professionals, and as professionals, have to communicate our findings to someone…our boss, a client, whomever. If the client cannot clearly understand your report, then it is completely useless to them.
Anyway, after reading the responses in this forum and others, I'm going to start simple, and use my blog as a forum for posting this sort of thing. I don't have a schedule yet, but I do have the material…my new book…and I can post whitepapers and articles to the sourceforge site that I'm using.
Thanks, everyone, for your input on this…
Harlan
Having been a regular reader, rather browser of 2600 etc, I must say a magazine that I have found to be technically sound, with well written & structured security information is Hackin9. The also issue an upodated CD with tutorials, etc in every issue. Whilst focussed on a broad range of security topics, it does from time to time also cover Forensics, data recovery, crypto, etc.
The magazine is from Poland - written in excellent English & details can be found on their site at http//en.hakin9.org/ - this one is definitely worth every penny.
MindSmith,
Interesting…good graphics, and some of the sample articles that are available do seem to be much better written than what appears in 2600 and BL411.
So…what do you suggest at this point? Asking the guys at Hackin9 if they'd be interested in doing something forensics-based?
H
I think perhaps getting some of their content around forensics-related matter for Syndication into a 100% forensic focussed magazine may actually be a good solution.
That way neither party has to think about starting a new mag as such from scratch, rather you can have a number of SME's delivering write-ups, etc on matters relevant to the field of Computer /Digital Forensics, etc.
You have 3 key editors handling (Legal, Product Specific, and technical know how) - most submissions would be by guest writers, and to some extent from the industry (Guidance, etc) on new developments, & industry guru's. You could even publish some extracts from your planned book in each installment - in the form of pull-out technical references guides, and also issue demo software, monthly challenge from Honeynet project, etc.
Technical substance with a dash of marketing flair should do the trick.
Just a thought.
Great thread!
You wouldn't have to stick to "nuts and bolts" technical articles 100%. There are lots of areas to be covered
CF Business
- Start up how to
- The Start Up CF lab
- State by State requirements
- Marketing
Tales from the Real World
- Horror stories
- Success stories
- Humorous stories
- Software/hardware review corner
Cert reviews
Legal Developments
Training/CF School reviews
CF Recent Developments in Law Enforcement
Government Decisions
Q&A sessions with NIST/DoD/NSA/CIA type people
Interviews with active CF practitioners
Interviews with Lawyers
Opinion pieces
Guest Opinion/Editorial
Editorial Ranting
Guest Rant
Letters to the Editor
Tips and Tricks from The Field
its endless!
NOt sure if this one was mentioned but I found it to be excellent. It's new and just 85 us dollars it's called The Journal of Digital Forensics and can be found at http//
Hello folks,
At the risk of sounding like a complainer, I just wanted to mention that I've had the hardest time getting my paid-for issues of Digital Investigation sent to me. Subscribed last Sept. & paid for all of 2005 via credit card. It took them until 2006 to send me any of the issues, after several calls and e-mails demanding my money back. Meanwhile, I would receive bills and renewal notices from them with no problem roll . This year, same thing! For something that costs several hundred dollars U.S., you'd think they'd do a better job. I just wanted to mention this since someone was asking about existing journals. It's a great journal, though.
And speaking of "doing a better job", I just came across this thread today, and find the idea of starting a more practical, hands-on forensics journal intriquing. I'd be interested in articles dealing with the legal issues we face, and getting the "real" answers to things like private investigation licensing requirements and "warrantless searches". Also, checklists and "cheat sheets" for common tasks, application artifacts, etc. would be useful. Feedback from people who hold forensics-related certifications, and whether they thought it was money/time well spent. I guess I'm looking for the same sort of things I find here, only edited, fact-checked, and streamlined.
I think some of the problems in getting people to contribute might be
- Lack of experience with writing articles (the best techies aren't always the best writers).
- Lack of desire for doing research.
- People wanting to be paid for their expertise, not just give away knowledge that took them years to acquire.
- Fear of having to defend their findings/opinions (not all of us are comfortable with public debate, and some people aren't good at giving constructive criticism).
Well, that's my two cents.
-TVD
Some very good points there, TVD. For my part, while I don't currently have a lot of time to spare in terms of fact-checking articles or even joining in discussions in the forums, I'm more than happy for this site to act as a platform for hosting material if anyone wants to submit it. I'm also very much open to developing the site in any way which seems useful as far as adding new areas or functionality is concerned. That's not to say I'm against anyone starting something new, far from it, I just want to make it clear that there's no need to reinvent the wheel as far as the underlying hosting is concerned if people want to take advantage of what we have here already.
I guess, though, the problem is still attracting submissions! It would be grossly unfair of me to criticise anyone for not contributing when it's been a long time since I've done so myself but just scanning through the list of problems at the end of your post I will certainly offer my services in terms of proofreading and tidying things up - please, anyone, don't let your lack of writing experience put you off. As far as defending findings/opinions is concerned I suspect this (together with the time involved) is what puts most people off contributing. In reality I think most of us here do a fairly good job of giving constructive criticism so I hope anyone contemplating putting pen to paper will decide to do give it a go. At the end of the day I think we all want the same thing, a useful resource, and if a bit of polite debate and discussion is part of achieving that goal then that's all to the good.
Jamie
Hey Jamie (good to see I'm not the only one working on a Saturday!),
Well, in the spirit of "writing about what you know", I'd be happy to kick things off with an article about my experiences with the CCE certification. Newbies in the industry are always asking what certification to get first, and I feel that the CCE is a well-rounded place to begin. Most of the people in my CCE bootcamp were VERY inexperienced with computers in general, and I think they were in over their heads. People were trying to go through practicals on floppy disk formatting and data recovery using WinHex, and didn't have working floppy disk drives on their machines! (Note to future CCE bootcamp attendees You're gonna need a floppy drive! And a machine made in the last decade that doesn't crash when you open more than one app at a time might be good too!)
I'd like to talk a bit about the background you might want to have before you start the cert. process. Also, I'd tell people about a few of the things that tripped me up (without revealing any of the answers for the exam, of course)!
Harlan, others…any input on this idea?
Cheers!
-TVD