Patent 8438174 was granted and assigned to Georgetown University on May, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Methods and systems are provided for a proactive approach for computer forensic investigations. The invention allows organizations anticipating the need for forensic analysis to prepare in advance. Forensic signatures are created including a digital fingerprint and other information associated with a file. In one aspect, informational signatures are created, which may assist in determining what information is included in a file. In another aspect, the digital fingerprint may represent contents of the file and is resistant to minor modification of the file. In another aspect, fingerprints can be compared in parallel on different computers.