Tool validation

Tools have bugs, and bugs in forensics become errors in evidence. Validation tests against known data sets, documents version and configuration, and is repeated at every update. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (incl. EC3) (Europol) report describes European practice as fragmented – each country, sometimes each unit, tests on its own – and recommends a central European testing body. Until then the rule for companies and providers is: whoever uses a tool must be able to say why they trust its results.