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Branding

by Michael Post

When downloading your Notebooks or Notes, they will be provided in a PDF format.  

This makes sharing, printing and disclosing simple and efficient

We therefore recommend you brand your documents with you organizations name and or logo.

Keep reading to learn how add your own branding.

Setup Branding Before Creating Your Notes

Individual Notes are immediately PDF’d at the time they are Timestamped.
The PDF branding of individual notes CANNOT be altered after they are created.

Downloaded Notebooks are PDF’d at the time you decide to download them. 
They will use what ever Branding settings you have at that time.

Access the Branding Menu

To setup your organization’s name, logo, or banner:

  • Click the Main Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
  • Select Profile & Settings
  • Select Branding
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Access the Branding Menu

Under Branding you will see a sample cover page of your Forensic Notebook, showing your how your current logo/banner and disclaimer look. 

By default, the Forensic Notes banner will be used.

Below is what what the default branding page looks like.

In App vs. PDF Notes

Branding & Disclaimers are only visible in the PDF format of your notes.
When viewing notes within the Forensic Notes application Branding & Disclaimers are not shown.

Recommended Size Limits

To ensure professional high quality reports, we recommend the following:

1. Organization Name: Maximum of 40 characters.

2. Logo:  High resolution square image.

Example Logo

3. Banner image. High resolution rectangular image.

Example Banner

A Sample PDF Note with Branding

Here is an example of page from a Notebook PDF with Branding Logo & Text added.

A sample PDF Note with Logo & Organization Name added.

Multi-Factor Authentication

by Michael Post

Set up multi-factor authentication

For an added layer of security, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is always enabled on all Forensic Notes accounts.  You can enable “remember me” when signing in with MFA on a particular device, which allows you to not have to reenter login credentials every time you want to access your Forensic Notes.

How MFA works

  • You’ll need access to your mobile phone when you sign in to Forensic Notes
  • You'll enter a verification code and your password each time you sign in.
  • You can choose to send your verification code by text message or from the Authy authentication app.

Using MFA

Maps and Weather

by Michael Post

Forensic Notes makes it easy to add your current location or the weather with only a few taps.

 

Maps

When you add your location to your notes, it will include the following:

  • latitude / longitude coordinates
  • a satellite view (approx. 75 meter radius)
  • a map view (approx. 2 kilometer radius)

If using the mobile device, the location will typically be more accurate.
If using a desktop / laptop, the location will typically based off your IP address, which generally is not as accurate.

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Weather

The current weather can be added to your notes.

As the weather is associated with your location, it will typically be more accurate on mobile devices.
If you are using your desktop / laptop computer will be based off the geo-location data associated wit your IP address.

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App Interface

by Michael Post

Forensic Notes has two main screens that you will interact with.

  1. The main screen is where you can view and create your individual notebooks as well as Team Member notebooks.
  2. You can click any individual notebook, to view the content of that Notebook, and add new notes, attachments, images, etc.

Manage Notebooks

Desktop Web App
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Mobile Web App
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Manage Notes

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Getting Started Video

by Michael Post

Watch: Introduction to Using Forensic Notes

Learn how to begin using Forensic Notes with our Founder Robert Merriott

What is Forensic Notes

by Michael Post

What is Forensic Notes

Forensic Notes is electronic note-taking application that was built to follow the highest standards of tradition pen and paper note-taking used by law enforcement and expected by the courts. 

Forensic Notes goal is to allow you to keep more accessible and powerful electronic notes which the vast amount technology now available whether at your desk or on your phone.  Yet still ensuring that your notes are not only admissible by can refute any arguments about when your notes were created or ever altered at a later date.

Built to Mimic a Physical Notebook

Forensic Notes allows you create individual notebooks, with each individual note being timestamped & hashed.

What is an un-finalized note?

An un-finalized note is simply a note that you are currently editing. Once you are finished editing the note, click “Finalize Forensic Note” to generate a Forensic Note.

What is a Forensic Note?

A Forensic Note is a Digitally Signed and Timestamped PDF version of the information entered by the owner of the note. A Forensic Note includes the exact text entered along with any associated images or attachments.

A Forensic Note and attachment(s) can be individually validated to PROVE the date/time at which it was created.

What is a Forensic Notebook?

A Forensic Notebook contains one or more Forensic Notes in a single PDF file. A Forensic Notebook is similar to a bounded paper notebook where pages can’t be removed.

As a result, the information within a Forensic Notebook is considered to be more credible since it is impossible to remove or add information after its been added.

This allows the owner of the Forensic Notebook to PROVE that the information hasn’t been altered or modified since it was created.

IACIS

by Michael Post

Here is some information to help you get quickly signed up and using Forensic Notes.

Sign-Up

Signing up for Forensic Notes is simple.  Click on Start Free Trial and select the Professional Account, and follow the sign-up instructions using your IACIS email address. We will recognize the email address and automatically upgrade your account to Professional at not cost.

No payment information required.

Getting Started

Watch our short introduction video below on how begin creating your first notes with Forensic Notes.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or run into any issues, please email [email protected].

We are ready to help you with any issues you have, and usually respond within an hour between 6am – 9pm PST.

We also love to hear any feedback from your experience using Forensic Notes.  Please don’t hesitate to let us know you like or what we improve.

 

IACIS-Discount

by Michael Post

IACIS Members Save 25%
www.ForensicNotes.com/IACIS-Discount

We are excited to be a Gold Sponsor of IACIS 2022.

All IACIS members can get a 25% discount to Forensic Notes.
Simply go to our pricing page and select Professional.

Once you sign up, email [email protected] with the email you used to signup and confirmation that you are an IACIS member.

We will then send you a discounted invoice.

This is valid for individual and team accounts until May 31st, 2022.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Cheers,
Robert Merriott
Founder of Forensic Notes

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"Forensic Notes makes documentation easy from the beginning through the end of a case."
Brett Shavers
Brett ShaversDigital Forensics Practitioner, Author, and Instructor
"I also agree wholeheartedly with Forensic Notes reasoning on why not to use MS Word and OneNote and instead use Forensic Notes."
Harlan Carvey
Harlan Carvey Author of “Investigating Windows Systems” & RegRipper
"I wish I had a tool like this years ago.
From a best practices standpoint, it compels examiners to carefully and contemporaneously document their efforts."
Alan Nelson
Alan NelsonFounder & Managing Director - Nelson Forensic & Advisory Services
"From intake to investigation, Forensic Notes solves a critical problem in OSINT investigations: having bulletproof notes.

Save yourself the headache and embarrassment, and start taking Forensic Notes."
Justin Seitz
Justin SeitzFounder of Hunchly OSINT Software
"Unlike almost all of the software programs we currently use this was created by/for law enforcement."
James
JamesPolice Officer / Investigator
"Forensic Notes is employing all best practices in securing their application and the data that exists within it."
Mike Parsons
Mike ParsonsSecurity Evangelist
"Forensic Notes will help to ensure that we can focus on issues of importance and not get sidetracked on problematic notes."
Jonathan W. Hak, Q.C.
Jonathan W. Hak, Q.C.Expert Witness & Investigator Testimony Instructor; Barrister and Solicitor
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See how Forensics Notes can help your Digital Forensics Investigation

Watch the video below and see how easy it is to begin creating your own Forensic Notes.

Keyboard Shortcuts

by robAdmin

You can use the following key shortcuts when adding or editing notes.

ActionsKeyboard shortcuts
Toolbar focusalt + f10
Insert linkctrl + k
Insert imagectrl + shift + i
Insert tablectrl + shift + e
Undoctrl + z
Redoctrl + y
Copyctrl + c
Cutctrl + x
Pastectrl + v
Boldctrl + b
Italicctrl + i
Underlinectrl + u
Strikethroughctrl + shift + s
Uppercasectrl + shift + u
Lowercasectrl + shift + l
Superscriptctrl + shift + =
Subscriptctrl + =
Indentsctrl + ]
Outdentsctrl + [
HTML sourcectrl + shift + h
Fullscreenctrl + shift + f
Justify centerctrl + e
Justify fullctrl + j
Justify leftctrl + l
Justify rightctrl + r
Clear formatctrl + shift + r
Ordered listctrl + shift + o
Unordered listctrl + alt + o

Report-A-Bug

by Michael Post

We are sorry, looks like you found a bug.

Our team will work to resolve any reported bugs, so please let us know what happened.

The more information you give us – the faster we can fix the problem.  

Please see the email tab below.

Short on time?

Select the form tab below to give us a quick summary of what happened.

Forensic Notes Validation Tool

by Michael Post

Prove the Authenticity of Your Documents

Our proprietary Validation Tool below will allow you to prove the date & time you created a Forensic Note, and that the documents have been unaltered. This includes being able to verify all of your:

  • Forensic Notebooks
  • Individual Forensic Notes
  • Attachments added to your Forensic Notes

NOTE: Validation Tool is currently being redeveloped and not available.
Please validate within Adobe.

Launch Forensic Notes Validation Tool (not currently available)

Test Forensic Note Validation

Below are three (3) files you can use to test the validation system.

1. Valid Forensic Notebook

2. Valid - But Older Outdated Forensic Notebook

The following Notebook is Valid, but additional change(s) were made to the electronic version of the Notebook within the Forensic Notes application which results in the following Forensic Notebook being valid, but outdated (Yellow).

Changes may include the user adding a new Forensic Note or marking an existing Forensic Note as deleted.

FACT: This is similar to Photocopying the notes within a paper notebook, but then adding a new note to the paper notebook afterwards. The existing photocopy is valid; it just doesn’t include all the information currently contained within the paper notebook which could be essential to your particular incident.

3. Invalid Forensic Notebook

The following Notebook was modified within Adobe Reader and is therefore NOT valid.

Launch Forensic Notes Validation Tool
Fake Notes

Fake Notes?

by Michael Post
Fake Notes
Play Video

“Watch out for people that take so-called “notes,” when the notes NEVER EXISTED until needed”

To avoid possible false allegations, contemporaneous notes should always be timestamped in a trusted note-taking system so that the writer can PROVE when they were written.

This eliminates the allegation of ‘fake’ notes that were created “when needed”.

The US President, Donald J. Trump recently tweeted…

Trump's Tweet on Fake Notes

The key statement within this tweet is his claim that the “notes never existed until needed”.

Can we determine when these “notes” were created?

You may be surprised to learn that using popular word processing applications may leave this question unanswered.

However, it would be very easy, if they were created in an immutable system like Forensic Notes!

President Trump makes a valid and interesting point about contemporaneous notes and those that claim to have written them. Being able to independently verify when they wrote the note is a key component to their credibility.

Taking good notes matters.

PROVING when you took good notes matters even more.

This is why Forensic Notes was created.

Forensic Notes allows you to create notes while ensuring you can always PROVE when you wrote them.

From a technical perspective, every note is Digitally Signed and Timestamped, using the same technology used by major banks and government agencies.

Simply put…

After you write a note, it is made immutable (can’t change) and it includes the date/time of when it was written.

This is similar to the idea of placing the note on the blockchain, which is often in the news.

And like the blockchain, anyone with a copy of your notes could simply drag & drop your notes on our verification page to confirm the notes were the originals and unaltered.

As more information comes out on how these notes were written, we will see if the authors are able to PROVE when they were written. Perhaps they used Forensic Notes?

Interested in protecting your credibility?

Signup with Forensic Notes Today!

Forensic Witness – Error

by robAdmin

Sorry, it looks like you encountered an error with Forensic Witness.

Please try again. If you continue to encounter this issue, please contact the investigator who provided you with the link to the application.

Final Approval Required
to Join Team

by robAdmin

The Administrator of your Team Account has been notified. 

Once final approval has been granted, you will be sent an email advising you to log in.

Extract Forensic Notes from ZIP

by robAdmin

Steps:

1. Open the Forensic Note ZIP Archive (.zip) that you downloaded from your account.

2. Open a File Explorer window and navigate to a folder to save your files.

3. Adjust both the File Explorer window and ZIP Archive window on your screen so that you can see both at the same time (you may need to adjust the size of each window).

4. Select all files including the Forensic Note, Timestamp Certificate and attachment(s) within your ZIP Archive (.zip).

5. Drag & Drop the files from the ZIP Archive into the second (2nd) File Explorer window you opened in step 2. Files will automatically be extracted.

NOTE: You will need to enter your ZIP Archive password when extracting the files. Once extracted, your files will NOT BE PASSWORD PROTECTED. Please ensure you’ve extracted the files to a secure folder that only you can access if your notes must remain private.

 

Extract Forensic Notes from ZIP Archive | Forensic Notes Software

Contact Us

by robAdmin

We are happy to help with any questions you have regarding Forensic Notes.

Kindly provide information below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Or email: [email protected]

Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat Validation

by robAdmin

Adobe Reader / Acrobat Validation NOT Always Required!

The instructions within this article are provided to validate a Forensic Note via Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. However, validation via the Forensic Notes Proprietary Validation Tool is recommended due to its ease of use and validation capabilities.

 

1. Open a Forensic Note / Notebook within Adobe Reader or Acrobat and ensure that the “Valid Forensic Note” signature panel is displayed (see below). If Digital Certificate has not been trusted, go to Trust Digital Signing Certificate and follow the instructions before proceeding.

2. Confirm that the PDF has been Digitally Signed by [email protected]

3. Confirm that the document has not been modified since the signature was applied.

4. Confirm that the signing time of the document approximately matches the time you have recorded within the Forensic Note or Forensic Notebook. To view the signing time of the Forensic Note, you must “Show Signature Properties…”.

Dates & Times – Why Approximately?

 

While validating a Forensic Note or a Forensic Notebook, up to three (3) different dates & times may be found which will all be valid if they fall within a couple minutes of each other due to how Forensic Notes are processed. Forensic Notes are processed in three (3) distinctive steps:

Step #1 – Database Save

Forensic Note information in saved read-only into the database. The date and time associated with saving the data into the Forensic Notes application is recorded and printed within the generated PDF.

Step #2 – Digital Signature Applied

A Forensic Notes PDF is generated which includes the printed date and time from Step #1. The Forensic Note PDF is then Digitally Signed with a Digital Signing Certificate. The date and time associated with the Digital Signature is recorded within the Digital Signature. This Digital Signature’s signing date can then be displayed within the PDF as the Signing Date & Time. (see Validate via Adobe Reader / Acrobat – Step #4)

Step #3 – Timestamp Generated

A one-way HASH of the Forensic Note PDF is sent to our independent and trusted third-party Timestamping Authority (TSA) which provides a timestamp of the Forensic Note or Forensic Notebook. The date and time associated with the timestamping is recorded within the Digital Timestamp Certificate and returned to the Forensic Notes application. (see Validate via Timestamp Certificate)

 

These three (3) steps are normally processed quickly resulting in minimal differences in times associated with all three steps. However, larger documents or heavy network utilization may result in longer delays between steps causing more significant time differences. As a result, times should approximately match within a couple minutes’ difference.

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