SAM Hive File Course

This course explains forensic artifacts found in the SAM (Security Account Manager) file, which stores and organizes information about each user on a system.

50 minutes

Course description

This course demonstrates how to identify each user account on a local machine using the relative identifier. Examiners can also learn to interpret username information including the users’ login dates, times and login count. The course will show how to identify the machine that the user account was created on, by interpreting a users’ SIDs (machine/domain identifiers) and recovering user password hashes.

Syllabus

Other Types of User Accounts

Video - 00:19:00
This video provides an overview of how to locate the identifiers of domain user accounts on a local machine. Includes an explanation of user groups and permissions.
Password Hashes

Video - 00:04:00
In this video, you'll look at an explanation of how user password hashes are stored on the local machine and how to extract the password hash.
User Accounts (RIDs)

Video - 00:12:00
In this video, you'll look at RIDs. These identify an individual user on a local machine.
Security Identifiers

Video - 00:07:00
Explore security identifiers, which identify the machine that the user account was created on. These are helpful to identify remote users and Microsoft accounts that were created on another system.
SAM File Overview

Video - 00:08:00
An overview of the security account manager (SAM file). Tracks information regarding user accounts on the local system.

Meet the author

Denise Duffy

In addition to being an Infosec instructor, Denise Duffy teaches computer forensics worldwide to European law enforcement through the European Anti-Fraud Office. During her 25-year career at the Middletown Police Department, Denise underwent extensive training in specialized computer and mobile device forensics, including widespread access data courses, multiple IACIS trainings, U.S. Secret Service Training at the National Computer Forensics Institute, BlackBag Technologies Training, many National White Collar Crime (NW3C) courses, an X-Ways online course and considerable Internet Crimes Against Children Training (ICAC) courses.

Denise currently holds the following certifications: CFCE (Certified Forensic Computer Examiner), CCFE (Certified Computer Forensics Examiner), CMFE (Certified Mobile Forensics Examiner) and CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker). She is most proud of her two sons who joined the U.S. Military, as Denise is a Desert Shield/Desert Storm veteran herself.

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Associated NICE Work Roles

All Infosec training maps directly to the NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity to guide you from beginner to expert across 52 Work Roles.

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  • Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst

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