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Autopsy

Forensics

Beginnerlow risk

Autopsy is a digital forensics platform and graphical interface to The Sleuth Kit and other digital forensics tools used to investigate what happened on a computer.

Installation

sudo apt install autopsy

Basic Syntax

autopsy (GUI application)

Quick Facts

Full Name
Autopsy Digital Forensics Platform
Based On
The Sleuth Kit (TSK)
License
Apache 2.0
Written In
Java, C++
Platforms
Windows, Linux, macOS
Category
Disk Forensics Platform
First Release
2001
Interface
Graphical (GUI)

Tool Overview

Autopsy is an open-source digital forensics platform and the graphical interface to The Sleuth Kit (TSK). It is widely used by law enforcement, corporate investigators, and incident response teams to examine disk images and extract digital evidence.

Originally developed by Brian Carrier, Autopsy provides an extensible architecture with ingest modules for file analysis, keyword searching, timeline generation, hash database lookups, and web artifact extraction.

Autopsy supports evidence from hard drives, SSDs, mobile devices, and disk image files in formats like E01, RAW, VHD, and VMDK. Its modular design allows forensic analysts to customize workflows for criminal investigations, corporate audits, and incident response engagements.

Common Commands

autopsyStart the Autopsy Forensic Browser web server on localhost:9999
autopsy -p 9999Start Autopsy listening on a specific TCP port
autopsy -d /path/to/evidenceUse a specific evidence locker directory for cases
autopsy -i 192.168.1.10Bind the Autopsy web server to a specific IP address
autopsy -CRun Autopsy without requiring browser cookies
mmls /path/to/image.ddDisplay the partition layout of a disk image
img_stat /path/to/image.ddShow details about a forensic image file and its format
fsstat -o 2048 /path/to/image.ddPrint file system details for the partition at an offset
fls -r -o 2048 /path/to/image.ddRecursively list files and directories, including deleted ones
fls -rd -o 2048 /path/to/image.ddList only deleted file entries recursively
icat -o 2048 /path/to/image.dd 12345Extract the content of a file by its inode number
istat -o 2048 /path/to/image.dd 12345Show metadata for a specific inode (times, size, blocks)
ils -o 2048 /path/to/image.ddList inode information, focusing on deleted inodes
ffind -o 2048 /path/to/image.dd 12345Find the file name(s) that point to a given inode
ifind -o 2048 -n /etc/passwd /path/to/image.ddFind the inode associated with a file name

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. 1Open the interface from your applications menu
  2. 2Establish a new investigation profile with relevant metadata
  3. 3Import your acquired disk image as the primary evidence source
  4. 4Execute the analysis modules to process hashes and keywords
  5. 5Examine the timeline and extracted files
  6. 6Produce a final formatted report of your discoveries

Use Cases

Disk Image Analysis

Mount and analyze forensic disk images to recover deleted files, examine file system structures, and extract evidence from storage media.

Timeline Reconstruction

Build chronological timelines of file system activity, user actions, and system events to understand what happened during an incident.

Hash Database Lookups

Compare file hashes against NSRL and custom hash databases to identify known files, known-bad software, and reduce analysis time.

Keyword Search

Search across all file contents and metadata for specific keywords, patterns, and regular expressions to locate relevant evidence.

Web Artifact Extraction

Extract browser history, cookies, downloads, and cached web content to trace online activity.

Email Analysis

Parse and examine email databases from Outlook, Thunderbird, and web-based clients to extract communication evidence.

Key Features

Related Tools

Volatility

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Memory forensics framework for analyzing RAM dumps and volatile artifacts.

Foremost

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File carving tool for recovering deleted files from disk images.

ExifTool

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Metadata extraction and analysis tool for images, audio, and video files.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Autopsy used for?

Autopsy is a digital forensics platform used to analyze disk images, recover deleted files, reconstruct timelines, and extract evidence from storage media for criminal investigations and incident response.

Is Autopsy free to use?

Yes, Autopsy is completely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. It can be downloaded from autopsy.com and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Can Autopsy analyze memory dumps?

Autopsy primarily focuses on disk image forensics. For memory forensics, tools like Volatility are more appropriate, though Autopsy can process some memory-related artifacts.

What file systems does Autopsy support?

Autopsy supports NTFS, FAT12/16/32, HFS+, EXT2/3/4, UFS, and YAFFS2 file systems, covering most storage media encountered in forensic investigations.

Tags

#forensics#gui-application#investigation

Ethical Usage Notice

This tool is designed for authorized security testing, educational purposes, and legitimate network administration only. Unauthorized access to computer systems is illegal.