CyanLine announced that its Fast Disk Acquisition System (FDAS) significantly decreases the time and complexity of e-discovery workflow processes. FDAS is a single unit that eliminates the need for write-blockers and often dozens of separate disk drives used to gather evidence at e-discovery sites. FDAS is used to duplicate disk evidence into separate evidence directories on its single unit.
FDAS stands out from typical forensic imaging devices. Other systems require a forensic investigator to bring a blank destination drive, laptop with imaging software, writeblocker and additional cables just to capture a single drive. CyanLine’s FDAS is an all-in-one unit that seamlessly connects to the drive and can be copied with the push of just two buttons.
Corey Cardio, a forensic investigator, utilized the streamlined workflow now permitted by FDAS during a recent investigation. “We were tasked with the gathering of images for an entire training room of a financial institution that consisted of 18 computer workstations. Within just a few hours and a single FDAS, we were able to create forensic images of all 18 disk drives and head back to the office to begin the analysis,” stated Cardio.
Typically, the evidence gathering would have involved transporting 36 different disks back to the office, including the 18 original disks with write blockers plus 18 new disks for each copy of the image.
“Ensuring that enough disks are brought to the investigation site, dealing with malfunctioning units, and then keeping 36 disks properly organized is not a simple task,” Cardio continued. “With FDAS, a new evidence directory is created for each disk and we can create as many of these directories we need on a single unit.”
The drastically improved workflow provided by FDAS is a major benefit to digital forensic investigators and adds to the well documented high-speed with which FDAS creates the images. In a recent benchmark video, CyanLine’s FDAS captured an image 6-times faster than an industry leading forensic imager. With an 80GB SSD with eSATA in use, Tableau TD2 created a forensic image and checksum in about 1 hour. CyanLine’s FDAS captured the same details in fewer than 11 minutes.
