“In forensic analysis on Unix‐like systems, the file utility examines the magic number and header information of a file to determine its true type, regardless of its filename or extension. This makes it invaluable when an adversary has renamed or stripped extensions from files to evade detection.”
— CompTIA CASP+ Official Study Guide, Third Edition, Chapter 7: Forensics and Incident Response, p. 485
“Use the file command as part of your forensic toolkit to validate image files (e.g., ISO, E01) by their internal signatures. This approach is more reliable than relying on extensions or filenames alone.”
— CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Exam Objectives (v7.1), Section 5.2: Forensic Analysis Techniques, p. 33
By leveraging the file utility’s signature‐based detection, the investigator can accurately identify ISO images even when their extensions have been altered or removed.
[References:, CompTIA CASP+ Official Study Guide, Third Edition, p. 485, CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Exam Objectives (v7.1), Section 5.2, p. 33, , , , ]
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