Homeland Security: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) computer forensics tool testing group provides a measure of assurance that the tools used in the investigations of computer-related crimes produce valid results. It also supports other projects in the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) overall computer forensics research program, such as the National Software Reference Library (NSRL).
The Computer Forensics Tool Testing (CFTT) program is a joint project of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Law Enforcement Standards Office (OLES) and Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). CFTT is supported by other organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division Electronic Crimes Program, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Secret Service. The objective of the CFTT program is to provide measurable assurance to practitioners, researchers, and other applicable users that the tools used in computer forensics investigations provide accurate results. Accomplishing this requires the development of specifications and test methods for computer forensics tools and subsequent testing of specific tools against those specifications.
