Introduction

Just NIST’s Digital Forensics Black Box Study

Just NIST’s Digital Forensics Black Box Study

Original Release Date: August 20, 2020

In episode six of our 2020 Digital Evidence season, Just Science interviews Barbara Guttman from the National Institute of Standards and Technology about the first large-scale black box study to test the accuracy of computer and mobile phone forensics.

In forensic science, black box studies are used to measure the reliability of methods and techniques that rely on human interpretation. Barbara Guttman and her team at NIST are working to measure the overall competency of the digital forensics community at large by releasing an open-enrollment online test available to interested forensic scientists. Listen along as she discusses the parameters of the test, the expected results, and the value of the study in this episode of Just Science.

This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].

Listen to or download the episode here:


Guest Biography

Barbara Guttman is the Manager of the Software Quality Group in NIST’s Information Technology Lab (ITL). Her areas of responsibility include software assurance and computer forensics. In computer forensics, her group runs the National Software Reference Library www.nsrl.nist.gov and the Computer Forensics Tool Testing Project www.cftt.nist.gov. She is also active in both the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence and the OSAC DE Subcommittee.  She has been working in the area for 20 years. In software assurance, her group runs the Software Assurance Metrics and Tool Evaluation (SAMATE) project including the Static Analysis Tool Exposition and the SAMATE Reference Data Set. Prior to joining the Software Quality Group, she was Associate Director of ITL, Senior Program Analyst to the NIST Director, and worked in computer security and federal information policy.


The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Contact us at ForensicCOE@rti.org with any questions and subscribe to our newsletter for notifications.


Related Content

Physical Characteristics of Spatter Stains on Textiles

This webinar originally occurred on December 12, 2023Duration: 1 hour Overview Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is a forensic technique for crime scene reconstruction, through analyzing bloodstains (e.g., size, shape, etc.) and their patterns (e.g., distribution, location, etc.) to recreate the…

Digital Caseload Processing with the NIST National Software Reference Library

This webinar originally occurred on December 13, 2022 Duration: 1 hour Overview The National Software Reference Library (NSRL) is supported by federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to promote…

Audio Forensic Analysis Procedures for User Generated Audio Recordings

This webinar originally occurred on November 29, 2022 Duration: 1 hour Overview The widespread use of handheld smartphones and other devices capable of recording audio and video means that user generated recordings (UGRs) are increasingly presented as evidence in criminal…