Digital Forensics Lab Considerations

Considering Office Ergonomics

  • When setting up your office and choosing lab furniture, consider the following inquiries to ensure an ergonomic work environment:
      * Desk or workstation table
        * Is the desk positioned at your ideal height?
        * Do you require a chair that is lower or higher than usual in order to comfortably access and use the desktop?
        * While you're sitting, are your wrists straight?
        * Is this a cozy position?
        * Are your hands' heels in a relaxed position?
        * Do they place excessive pressure on the desk?
        * Do you require a mouse pad or keyboard?
      * Chair
        * Can you change the height of your chair?
        * Is the chair's back the right length or the wrong width?
        * For your thighs, is the seat portion either too long or too short?
        * Are the back and seat sufficiently padded for comfort? Can you watch the monitor while sitting up straight?
        * When working, are your elbows in a comfortable position?
        * How do your back and shoulders feel as you sit at the computer and work?
        * Do you have to turn your head to look at the monitor because the chair won't fit in front of it, or is your head already facing it?
      * Workbench
        * When you're standing in front of the workbench in your lab, is the height appropriate?
        * Can you comfortably reach the back of the bench without using a stool?
  • You'll hurt yourself if you sit at a computer for hours at a time. Regardless of how beautifully the keyboard, mouse, or furniture is made, it is always a good idea to take breaks to stretch and rest your body.

Considering Environmental Conditions

  • Your comfort and productivity are also influenced by the temperature and ventilation in your lab.

  • Despite the fact that a normal desktop computer utilizes ordinary household electricity, as it runs, PCs warm up. Your lab will become hotter as you run more workstations, thus the space needs to have enough ventilation and air conditioning.

  • Ask the facility coordinator of your building if the space may be modified to meet your present and future computing requirements.

  • While organizing your digital forensics laboratory, use the following HVAC system planning questions checklist:
      * How big is the space, and how many cubic feet of air pass through it every minute?
      * Can the space accommodate the extra heat that workstations produce?
      * What number of workstations will be installed in this space? How many workstations can the space support at once?
      * Can a small RAID server's heat output be accommodated in the space?

  • In digital forensics labs, lighting is a common environmental problem that is ignored. Most offices have too many lights that are overly bright, which can strain your eyes and give you headaches.

Considering Structural Design Factors

  • Another thing to think about is how your digital forensics lab is physically constructed. Your lab should be a lockable, secure space.
  • When leaving evidence unattended overnight, you need a safe place—a room that nobody else can enter without your permission.
  • Examine the building's hardware, walls, ceiling, floors, and windows to assess physical security. Verify that only sturdy building materials were employed in the construction.
  • Plaster, gypsum wallboard, metal panels, hardboard, wood, plywood, glass, wire mesh, expanded metal, or other materials that provide resistance to and proof of unauthorized entry can be used to build walls.
  • The same materials that are used to build walls can also be used to build ceilings, including plaster, gypsum wallboard, acoustic ceiling panels, hardboard, wood, plywood, ceiling tile, and other materials that provide some level of resistance and allow for detection in the event of an intrusion.
  • Look for sizable holes in the surrounding walls if your building features raised floors, which are typical in data centers. If you discover any, make sure the floor offers resistance and displays signs of someone attempting to enter the lab by using the same kinds of materials mentioned for ceilings.
  • Stay away from the lab's exterior windows. Install additional material, such as wire mesh, inside a room that has exterior windows to increase security. Request an upper floor rather than a bottom floor if your lab must be located against an exterior wall.
  • Doors shouldn't have windows and can be made of metal or solid wood. If the door does have a window, the glass should be resistant with wire mesh in it so that attempted intrusions may be seen.
  • A high-quality key-locking doorknob or a powerful, integrated combination device should be the door's locking mechanism. Only authorized personnel should have a copy of the key if you're utilizing a doorknob that locks with a key.

Planning for Communications

  • Each examiner requires a phone when planning voice and data communications.
  • You can install a multiline Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) phone system in the lab unless you operate in TEMPEST, which has particular voice and data access restrictions.
  • ISDN simplifies lab call handling.
  • Dial-up or broadband Internet is required.
  • You must be able to download digital forensics software updates and patches from their websites. Internet connectivity is essential to research the evidence and consult with other forensics professionals.
  • Setting up a Network for lab workstations allows data transfer to other examiners easy and streamlines procedures.
  • To secure your forensic workstations, use a dedicated WAN PC if your firm is part of a WAN.

Installing Fire-Suppression Systems

  • Computers seldom catch fire, but any electrical equipment can. Computer shorts can damage cables.
  • A low-voltage cable with adequate power could burn surrounding combustibles.
  • If hard disk servo-voice coil actuators freeze due to drive damage, computers can start fires. The head assembly stops moving.
  • The disk's circuit card then sends extra power to actuators to move the head assembly, overloading the disk.
  • Disk components can only handle so much power before they fail and overload the wires connecting the disk to the computer.
  • Low-voltage wires, especially ribbon cables, can ignite and catch fire if overpowered.
  • Most offices include fire sprinklers and dry chemical extinguishers (B rated).
  • These fire-suppression systems protect most forensics labs.
  • Dry chemical fire suppression may be needed in labs with raised floors.
  • Contact your facility coordinator or fire marshal with any questions.