Hi all,
Is there a UK body that tests forensic software tools similar to NIST?
I know of The United Kingdom Accreditation Service and National Physical Laboratory but could find no evidence that either of these bodies does this.
TIA!!!!!
Here in Canada, some testing is done by an assortment of engineers at the RCMP. If you have a larger national police force, you may want to ask someone in their tech crime units if anyone is doing any testing.
You could also contact NIST - my guess is that these guys tend to know each other and share results.
On a side note, the NW3C version of COFEE was tested by Justin Wykes (CFCE, Computer Crime Specialist, NW3C) and Mark Bowser (CFCE, Computer Crime Specialist, NW3C) according to the PDF that came with it.
My impression is that formal testing and validation of tools is spotty and widely distributed. I know that we used to get an annual email asking us which tools we thought needed to be validated.
If you are researching the subject, Peter Sommer (from the LSE) published an interesting article last year "Forensic science standards in fast-changing environments", Science and Justice 50 (2010) 12–17. You may want to Google him, get his email address, and ask him about this. I can send you the PDF of the article if you want.
Peter Sommer is a good suggestion. He's a member of the Digital Forensics specialist subgroup of the Forensic Science Regulator (which is possibly the body you are looking for).
He publishes contact details on his website
Sorry I've been away for a month. Your answers were both fantastic exactly what I needed. Thanks!!!!!