Role Model: Applied Forensic Knowledge Check - Evidence Integrity & Triage

A forensic investigator arrives at an enterprise workstation during an active ransomware intrusion. The machine is currently logged on, and BitLocker full-disk encryption is active. If the investigator immediately pulls the AC power cord to prevent malware spread across the network, what is the critical forensic consequence, and what was the proper procedure under RFC 3227?

During an insider threat investigation, an analyst inspects an NTFS filesystem and observes that a sensitive spreadsheet exhibits a file creation timestamp of January 12, 2021 in Windows Explorer. However, the analyst suspects the file was actually downloaded yesterday and timestomped using an anti-forensic utility. How does the analyst definitively prove timestamp alteration?

In a high-stakes trade secret trial, defense counsel challenges the admissibility of a forensic disk image under Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14), pointing out that the prosecution's acquisition technician only verified the image using an MD5 hash. Citing the 2012 Flame malware collision attack, the defense argues MD5 cannot prove mathematical integrity. How should the forensic laboratory have protected evidence admissibility?

An investigator attempts to recover deleted video files from a 1TB NVMe Solid-State Drive (SSD) seized from a suspect's laptop. The investigator connects the drive through a standard write-blocker to an analysis workstation and runs PhotoRec and scalpel carving tools, but recovers zero files from unallocated clusters. What explains this outcome?

Opposing counsel files a motion in limine to exclude volatile memory evidence under the Daubert standard, arguing that capturing live RAM introduces tiny changes to kernel memory and therefore lacks scientific reliability. Which response defensibly establishes Daubert admissibility under NIST SP 800-86?