Best examples of digital forensics lab report examples for 2024

Examples of digital forensics lab report examples you can model

When people ask for examples of digital forensics lab report examples, they usually want two things at once:

• A realistic case scenario
• Concrete wording or structure they can borrow

Below are several case‑style examples that mirror how working examiners write in law enforcement, corporate incident response, and academic labs in 2024–2025.

1. Example of a mobile phone forensics lab report (drug trafficking case)

A classic example of a digital forensics lab report involves a seized smartphone in a narcotics investigation. A professional report in this situation usually includes:

Case context (narrative style)
“On March 4, 2025, the Arizona Department of Public Safety seized a black iPhone 14 Pro (IMEI: [redacted]) during the arrest of John Smith on suspected distribution of controlled substances. The device was submitted to the Digital Forensics Unit under evidence number AZ‑25‑0412. The purpose of this examination was to identify communications, media, and location data relevant to suspected drug trafficking activities between January 1, 2025 and March 4, 2025.”

Acquisition and tools
The report then documents:

• Use of a write‑blocked environment
• Logical and full‑file system extraction with a tool such as Magnet AXIOM or Cellebrite UFED
• Hash values for acquired images (e.g., SHA‑256)

Key findings section (example wording)
“Analysis of the Messages and WhatsApp databases identified 47 conversations referencing quantities of ‘half’ and ‘zip’ consistent with drug‑related slang. Of these, 16 conversations included photographs of suspected narcotics. Location metadata associated with three of the photographs placed the device at 33.4484° N, 112.0740° W (Phoenix, AZ) on February 19, 2025 between 20:12 and 20:19 MST.”

This is one of the best examples for teaching students how to:

• Tie artifacts (messages, photos, GPS) directly to the exam purpose
• Use cautious language: “consistent with,” “appears to,” “associated with”

For standards on handling mobile evidence, many labs align with guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), such as its mobile device forensics publications: https://www.nist.gov

2. Cloud account investigation: example of a SaaS data theft report

Modern examples of digital forensics lab report examples almost always include cloud evidence. Picture a case where a departing employee is suspected of stealing customer lists from a CRM platform.

Scope and questions
The report might frame its scope like this:

“At the request of ACME Corp. Legal, the Digital Forensics Team examined activity associated with user account jdoe@acmecorp.com in the Salesforce environment between August 1–15, 2024. The primary questions were: (1) Did the user export or exfiltrate customer records? (2) If so, when, how, and to what destination?”

Evidence sources

• Salesforce audit logs
• SSO/identity provider logs (e.g., Okta)
• Endpoint logs for the user’s laptop
• VPN logs

Findings narrative (sample)
“On August 12, 2024 at 18:43:11 UTC, user jdoe@acmecorp.com initiated a ‘Data Export’ job containing 12 objects, including the ‘Accounts’ and ‘Contacts’ tables. At 19:02:47 UTC, the user downloaded the export ZIP file (size: 184 MB) from IP address 73.21.XX.XX, which geolocates to Phoenix, AZ and matches the user’s home broadband provider.

Endpoint telemetry from the user’s assigned laptop (hostname: ACME‑L‑224) shows the export ZIP written to the local Downloads folder, followed by an upload of a similarly sized file to Dropbox at 19:06:13 UTC. The Dropbox destination account was not associated with ACME’s corporate domain.”

This kind of report is increasingly common in 2024–2025 as organizations move to SaaS platforms and rely heavily on log correlation. It also shows how examples include:

• Cloud service logs
• Identity management logs
• Endpoint EDR data

For background on logging and cloud security practices, many analysts reference materials from CISA: https://www.cisa.gov

3. Ransomware incident: example of a disk and memory forensics report

Another of the best examples of digital forensics lab report examples centers on a ransomware outbreak in a mid‑size hospital.

Purpose statement
“This report documents the forensic examination of system HOSP‑EMR‑02 following a ransomware incident discovered on September 9, 2024. Objectives were to determine: (1) initial infection vector, (2) scope of compromise, (3) evidence of data exfiltration, and (4) artifacts relevant to attribution.”

Evidence and methods

• Full disk image acquired with write‑blocker
• Volatile memory image captured with a live response toolkit
• Log collection (Windows event logs, firewall, VPN, EDR)

Sample findings section
“Email gateway logs show that on September 6, 2024 at 14:03:27 CDT, user nurse.jane@hospital.org received an email with subject ‘Updated shift schedule’ from address hr‑support@h0spital‑schedule.com. The message contained an attached Excel file with macros enabled.

The workstation’s Windows Security log records a process creation event (Event ID 4688) at 14:05:02 CDT for ‘excel.exe’ spawning ‘powershell.exe’ with an obfuscated command line. Memory analysis identified a running process ‘svchost.exe’ (PID 1624) with injected code matching the known ransomware family “LockBit” based on YARA signature LB2024‑A.

Network logs between 14:05 and 14:15 CDT show outbound connections to 185.XX.XX.XX over TCP port 443 with a data transfer of approximately 1.8 GB, suggesting possible data exfiltration prior to encryption.”

This report style is strong because it:

• Connects user action (opening a malicious attachment) to technical artifacts
• Uses cautious language around exfiltration ("suggesting possible")
• Documents specific timestamps and artifacts that can be independently verified

Hospitals and healthcare organizations often align their incident reporting with guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and resources linked from NIH: https://www.nih.gov

4. Insider threat: example of USB and endpoint forensics

Some of the most instructive examples of digital forensics lab report examples come from insider‑threat investigations, because they require very tight correlation between physical access, device usage, and file activity.

Scenario overview
An engineer is suspected of taking proprietary CAD files before resigning.

Typical report elements

• Description of the workstation and OS
• List of examined user accounts
• Registry and artifact analysis (USBSTOR, shellbags, jump lists)
• Timeline of file access and copy events

Sample narrative
“Registry analysis of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USBSTOR shows that a SanDisk Ultra USB device (Serial: [redacted]) was first connected to workstation ENG‑CAD‑07 on November 3, 2024 at approximately 21:14:32 PST.

Windows Prefetch and jump list artifacts indicate that the file ‘RotorDesign‑v7.dwg’ located in C:\Projects\AeroRotor\ was opened in AutoCAD between 21:16 and 21:22 PST. Shellbag artifacts and $LogFile records from the NTFS volume show that the same file, along with 23 related drawings, was copied to the mounted SanDisk volume during this time window.

There is no evidence in the logs of these files being emailed externally from the corporate account during the same period.”

This kind of example of a lab report is particularly useful in training because it forces analysts to:

• Explain niche artifacts (shellbags, $LogFile) in plain English
• Distinguish between file access, copy, and exfiltration

5. Social media and OSINT: example of a harassment investigation report

Digital forensics in 2024–2025 often extends to social media and open‑source intelligence (OSINT). These examples include careful documentation of what was collected, when, and how it was preserved.

Scope statement
“At the request of the University Conduct Office, the Digital Forensics Lab documented and preserved public social media posts and direct messages allegedly sent by student account @UserA to student account @UserB on Platform X between January 1–10, 2025. The objective was to capture and authenticate the content as it appeared at the time of collection.”

Evidence handling

• Screen captures with visible timestamps and URLs
• Platform export of account data where available
• Hashing of exported archives

Sample findings text
“On January 8, 2025 at 09:14 EST, the examiner accessed the public profile https://x.com/UserA from a lab workstation. A thread dated January 5, 2025 at 22:31 EST contained the statement: ‘You will regret showing up on campus again.’ This post was captured via full‑page PDF export and verified against the platform’s HTML source, which showed a consistent timestamp of ‘2025‑01‑06T03:31:12.000Z’.

A platform data export provided by the Conduct Office included the same post ID and content within the ‘tweets.js’ archive. The SHA‑256 hash of the export file was calculated as [hash value] and recorded in the Evidence Log.”

This example of a social media forensics report emphasizes:

• Verifiable collection methods
• Cross‑checking between public view and platform exports
• Clear time zone handling

Universities often train students on scientific documentation standards using resources from sites like Harvard’s library and research guides: https://www.harvard.edu

6. Academic training: simplified example of a student digital forensics lab report

Not every report is written for court. Many examples of digital forensics lab report examples come from academic labs and are designed to teach structure more than to document a real crime.

A typical student lab report for a disk image exercise might include:

• Title and course info: “Disk Forensics Lab 3: NTFS Artifact Recovery”
• Objective: “Identify deleted files and reconstruct user activity on the provided Windows 10 disk image.”
• Tools: Autopsy, FTK Imager, hex editor
• Procedure: Stepwise description of what was done, in past tense
• Results: Tables summarizing recovered files, timestamps, and user accounts
• Discussion: Interpretation of what the artifacts suggest about user behavior
• Limitations: What the student could not recover or interpret

Example discussion paragraph
“Recovered browser history and NTFS $MFT entries indicate that the user downloaded the file ‘keygen.zip’ from the domain example‑download[.]com on April 2, 2025 at approximately 19:23 CDT. The file was saved to the Desktop and executed shortly after download. Multiple subsequent entries in the Windows Security log (Event ID 4625) show failed login attempts to the ‘Administrator’ account, which may indicate that the downloaded software attempted to brute‑force local credentials.”

These training examples include explicit descriptions of methods and tools to reinforce good habits for future professional work.

7. Why strong examples of digital forensics lab report examples matter in 2024–2025

It’s tempting to treat reporting as an afterthought, but in digital forensics, the report is what actually survives contact with court, regulators, or academic grading.

Modern examples of digital forensics lab report examples share several traits:

• Clear scope and questions: They state what the examiner was asked to determine, and just as importantly, what was out of scope.
• Repeatable methods: They identify tools, versions, and key settings so another examiner could reasonably attempt to repeat the work.
• Evidence‑based conclusions: They separate raw artifacts (logs, files, hashes) from interpretation, and avoid absolute claims when the data does not support them.
• Plain‑English explanations: They avoid jargon when speaking to non‑technical readers, or they explain it the first time it appears.
• Transparency about limitations: They note missing logs, encrypted containers, corrupted media, or other gaps.

If you compare the best examples from law enforcement, corporate IR, and academic programs, you’ll notice that the technical depth may vary, but the narrative discipline is very similar.

For broad background on forensic science reporting principles, including digital evidence, the U.S. Department of Justice and NIST provide policy and research materials: https://www.justice.gov and https://www.nist.gov

Structuring your own report using these examples

You can use these examples of digital forensics lab report examples as a template for your own work. A practical structure that works across most scenarios looks like this:

• Header and case information: Case number, examiner name, date, lab, requesting agency or client.
• Purpose and scope: A short paragraph explaining why the exam was requested and what questions you set out to answer.
• Evidence description: Detailed identifiers for each item: serial numbers, device type, OS version, account names, cloud tenants.
• Methods and tools: Acquisition methods (logical, physical, memory), tools used (with versions), and any validation steps.
• Findings: Organized by question, device, or artifact type. Use subheadings like “Communications,” “Web Activity,” “File System Artifacts,” “Log Analysis.”
• Interpretation: Explain what the findings likely indicate, and where alternative explanations are possible.
• Limitations: Note anything that constrained your work.
• Conclusion: Summarize the answers to the original questions in a few tight paragraphs.
• Appendices: Hash lists, tool output summaries, timelines, or tables too long for the main body.

When you write, imagine the report being read out loud in a courtroom to people who have never heard of a hash function. That mindset alone will improve your clarity.

FAQ: examples of digital forensics lab report examples

Q1. Where can I see real examples of digital forensics lab report examples used by professionals?
Public‑facing examples are limited because most real cases are sealed or confidential. However, you can sometimes find redacted reports in court filings, academic case studies from universities, and training materials from organizations like NIST and the U.S. Department of Justice. Many digital forensics textbooks also include a sample “example of” a full report in an appendix.

Q2. What are the best examples for teaching students how to write reports?
The best examples for students usually come from structured lab exercises that show the full pipeline: acquisition, analysis, and reporting. Look for exercises that include a provided disk or mobile image, a clear objective, and a model report that demonstrates good scope statements, cautious language, and explicit limitations.

Q3. How detailed should a digital forensics lab report be for court?
Court‑ready reports should document enough detail that another qualified examiner could understand what you did and why, without turning the report into a raw tool dump. The best examples strike a balance: they summarize methods in the body and move long logs, timelines, and tool outputs into appendices.

Q4. Can I reuse templates from examples of digital forensics lab report examples?
Yes, many labs maintain internal templates inspired by strong real examples. You can adapt headings, structure, and standard language about methods and limitations. Just avoid copying case‑specific text, and always align the template with your lab’s policies, local laws, and any standards your jurisdiction follows.

Q5. Are screenshots required in a digital forensics lab report?
Not always. Some labs prefer narrative descriptions and append tool reports instead of screenshots, because images can bloat the report and be harder to redact. That said, in some real examples—especially involving social media or GUI‑heavy artifacts—screenshots can help non‑technical readers understand what you saw.

If you study the examples above and adapt their structure—clear purpose, transparent methods, and evidence‑driven findings—you’ll be well on your way to producing digital forensics lab reports that hold up under scrutiny in 2024 and beyond.