Fonts for Forensics

: Like other latent evidence that cannot be directly perceived by people, bit sequences have to be presented through tools. Presentations of digital forensic evidence often involve the presentation of text versions of bit sequences representing traces of events that took place within digital systems. This paper is about creating fonts for the examination and presentation of particular classes of bit sequences presented in particular ways in legal situations. Unlike fonts used for other purposes, fonts for forensics are less about the beauty of the presentation and more about the tradeoff between readability and being definitive about what is present. In other words, what you see is what you get, rather than what you see is what looks nice. Background The presentation of trace evidence for legal purposes has substantially different requirements than for other purposes for several reasons. This includes, without limit, (1) legal mandates may restrict page formats (e.g., require the use o...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: SADFE
• Authors: Fred Cohen
• Keywords: Bit Sequences, Fonts, Forensic Engineering, Presentation, SADFE 2010