Shell item forensics is an essential aspect of digital forensics that deals with analyzing various artifacts created by the Windows operating system. These artifacts provide valuable information that can help investigators understand the activities of a user on a computer. In this article, we will focus on three important artifacts - shortcut files, shellbags, and jump lists - and highlight their usefulness in digital forensics investigations.
Shortcut files, also known as .lnk files, are commonly used by users to create a shortcut to an application or a file. These files can be created on the desktop or in any folder on the computer. Shortcut files contain information about the target file, the icon used, and other properties such as the working directory and command line arguments.
In digital forensics, shortcut files are useful for tracking user activity. By analyzing shortcut files, investigators can identify the applications or files that a user accessed, as well as the locations where the shortcuts were created. For example, if an investigator finds a shortcut to a file that was deleted, they may be able to recover the file from backup or unallocated space on the hard drive.
Shellbags are another useful artifact for digital forensics investigations. Shellbags are a type of Windows registry key that contains information about the settings and appearance of Windows Explorer windows. They can reveal information about folders that a user accessed, the dates and times of access, and the view settings used by the user.
By analyzing shellbags, investigators can gain insight into the user's behavior and identify folders that were accessed or modified. For example, if a user accessed a sensitive folder shortly before leaving an organization, investigators can use shellbag data to determine when the user accessed the folder and what actions were taken.
Jump lists are a feature of the Windows taskbar and Start menu that allow users to quickly access recently used files or applications. Jump lists contain information about the files or applications that a user accessed, as well as the dates and times of access. Jump lists can also provide information about files that were deleted, as they may still appear in the jump list.
Jump lists are useful for digital forensics investigations as they can reveal information about the user's recent activity. By analyzing jump lists, investigators can identify recently accessed files or applications, as well as any suspicious or unusual activity.
In conclusion, shell item forensics is a valuable tool for digital forensics investigators. By analyzing artifacts such as shortcut files, shellbags, and jump lists, investigators can gain valuable insight into a user's behavior and track their activities on a computer. While there are many other artifacts that can be analyzed in digital forensics, these three artifacts are particularly useful for identifying user activity and behavior.