re: Handling, possibly, encrypted data

From: H C (keydet89at_private)
Date: Tue Aug 13 2002 - 11:35:09 PDT

  • Next message: H C: "Re: Handling, possibly, encrypted data"

    > If the files on the image are obvious (like .doc and
    stuff)
    
    Remember, file extensions can be changed very easily. 
    Just b/c it says ".doc" and you see the Word icon
    doesn't mean 100% of the time that the file is, in
    fact, a Word document.
    
    > How can you determine the file type and,
    furthermore, 
    > how do you conclude that this file is encrypted
    > (if it is) ? 
    
    Actually, it's pretty simple.  On a Win32 system (you
    didn't mention the OS of the system you're analyzing)
    file signatures are contained in the first 20 bytes of
    the file.  Executables, for example...EXE, DLL, SYS,
    SCR, etc...all have "MZ" at the beginning of the file.
     Simply open any such file in Notepad and you'll see
    that.  EnCase uses this information to compare the
    file extension to the signature.  For graphics images,
    GIFs contain "GIF87a" or "GIF89a"...JPEGs contain
    "JFIF".  
    
    I wrote a Perl script called sigs.pl:
    
    http://patriot.net/~carvdawg/perl.html
    
    ...that uses this same technique.  The Perl script is
    also available as a standalone executable as part of
    my Win2K Live Forensics course.
    
    Now, regarding encryption...PGP files contain ¨PGP
    (which translates into A8 03 50 47 50) at the being of
    the file.
    
    HTH
    
    
    
    
    
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