WGU Digital Forensics in Cybersecurity (D431/C840) Course Exam Digital-Forensics-in-Cybersecurity Exam Dumps: Updated Questions & Answers (October 2025)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The.bash_historyfile located in each user’s home directory (e.g.,/Users//.bash_history) records the history of shell commands entered by the user in bash shell sessions. Reviewing this file allows investigators to see the commands executed by a specific user.

/var/vmcontains virtual memory swap files, not command history.

/var/logcontains system logs but not individual user shell command history.

/Users//Library/Preferencesstores application preferences.

NIST guidelines and macOS forensics literature confirm.bash_historyas the standard location for shell command histories on OS X systems.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

An email header contains metadata about the email including sender, receiver, routing information, and content details. TheContent-Typeheader specifies the media type of the email body (e.g., text/plain, text/html, multipart/mixed), indicating how the email content should be interpreted.

Sender's MAC address is not typically included in email headers.

Number of pages is not relevant to email metadata.

Message-Digest is a term related to cryptographic hashes but is not a standard email header field.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Steganography is used to conceal information within other seemingly innocuous data, such as embedding messages inside image files, allowing secret delivery of information without detection.

Unlike encryption, steganography hides the existence of the message itself.

It is an anti-forensic technique used to evade detection.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

In steganography, the carrier is the file or medium used to hide the secret message. In this example, the sound file is the carrier because it contains the hidden message embedded using the least significant bit method. The message is the payload, and the website is merely the distribution platform.

LSB is the embedding technique, not the carrier.

The message is the payload, not the carrier.

The website is not involved in data hiding.

NIST and steganography references clearly define the carrier as the container holding the hidden data.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The CAN-SPAM Act requires that commercial emails include a clear and conspicuous mechanism allowing recipients to opt out of receiving future emails. This opt-out method cannot require payment or additional steps that would discourage recipients.

The act aims to reduce unsolicited commercial emails and spam.

Compliance is critical for lawful email marketing and forensic investigations involving email misuse.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The Advanced Forensic Format (AFF) is an open file format designed for storing disk images and related forensic metadata. It was developed by the Sleuth Kit community and is supported by forensic tools such as Sleuth Kit and Autopsy. AFF allows efficient storage, compression, and metadata annotation, which makes it suitable for forensic investigations.

AccessData is known for FTK format, not AFF.

iLook uses proprietary formats unrelated to AFF.

Guidance Software developed the EnCase Evidence File (E01) format.

AFF is widely recognized in open-source forensic toolchains.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Steganography is the technique of hiding information within another file, message, image, or medium to conceal the existence of the information itself. It differs from encryption in that the data is hidden, not just scrambled.

Steganalysis is the detection or analysis of hidden data.

Encryption and cryptography involve scrambling data but do not inherently hide its existence.

NIST and digital forensics guidelines define steganography as the art of concealed writing or data hiding, used by criminals to evade detection.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

NTFS is the primary file system used by Microsoft Windows operating systems starting from Windows NT and continuing through modern versions including Windows 8. NTFS supports advanced features like file permissions, encryption, and journaling, which are critical for modern OS file management.

Linux typically uses ext3, ext4, or other native file systems, not NTFS as a primary system.

Mac OS X v10.4 and v10.5 use HFS+ as the native file system, not NTFS.

Windows 8 uses NTFS as its default file system.

This is documented in official Microsoft and NIST digital forensics resources.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The chain of custody is a documented, chronological record detailing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of evidence. Maintaining this record proves that the evidence was protected and unaltered, which is essential for court admissibility.

Each transfer or access must be logged with date, time, and handler.

Breaks in the chain can compromise the legal validity of evidence.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

CALEA mandates that telecommunications equipment and service providers design systems capable of allowing federal law enforcement to conduct authorized electronic surveillance. This includes wiretapping and data interception capabilities.

This law is essential for lawful monitoring in investigations.

It affects hardware design and network infrastructure.