CyanLine's free software grants law enforcement agencies the power to capture and unlock never-before-seen bonus data. Inspired by CyanLine’s Fast Disk Acquisition System (FDAS), MiniDAS allows investigators to obtain critical metadata, also known as “data about the data,” and collect a forensic image, and is available for free to all law enforcement agencies worldwide.
“We’ve incorporated some of the brains of FDAS into MiniDAS to allow law enforcement agencies facing budget reductions the ability to see and experience the significance of metadata, which most don’t even know exist, but can change the outcome of an investigation,” said Steven Branigan, CyanLine CEO and FDAS inventor. “Investigators can use MiniDAS to find information about the disk drive itself, including the number of hours it’s been in use, how many times a device was turned on, whether the disk is password protected and more.”
“As police departments across the nation face budget cuts, and are therefore limited in resources and staffing levels, community policing strategies are essential to maintaining effective public safety services within this changing economy,” noted Bernard Melekian, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services director in a U.S. Department of Justice publication.
Through this exclusive offer, Branigan hopes to introduce local, domestic and international law enforcement agencies that are facing financial crises to an entirely new computer forensic data-collecting software and offer an economical alternative to investigating and solving crimes.
MiniDAS can uncover a suspect’s hard disk’s age and usage and reveal how long a drive was in use. Using this information, an investigator can conclude that a disk has been replaced to hide evidence. “If investigators search a three-year-old computer, but see in the metadata that it was only in use for 20 hours, they can infer that the suspect’s disk offered incorrect evidence,” Branigan stated. “We’re on a mission to make these agencies aware that this data exists because it can be the difference in whether a criminal walks away unscathed or pays for their crimes.”
This free subset of the highly regarded FDAS forensic imaging system allows law enforcement agencies the chance to capture a complete forensic image of a subject’s disk along with information from the disk controller, known as disk metadata. To capture the metadata, investigators boot the software using their own laptops, run the program, plug in the subject’s disk drive and choose to either capture just the metadata or make a full forensic image.
Laptops with eSATA connection can use MiniDAS to seize metadata and make a forensic image. This free offer is exclusive to Law Enforcement Agencies across the globe and instructions on how to install and use MiniDAS can be found here. However, corporations, law firms and all others interested in MiniDAS are encouraged to contact CyanLine to find out how to get their own copy of this vital software.
