Digital Forensics Today | Free Newsletter | The Waldrep Company Skip to main content
Free Newsletter

Digital Forensics Today

Digital evidence, court-ready forensics, tools, and case strategy, written from active casework by Eric Waldrep. Every issue is built around one question: does your work stand up when someone asks how you know?

✓ You're in. A welcome note is on its way to your inbox.

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe any time. Every issue also publishes on LinkedIn.

~800
Subscribers on LinkedIn
19
Years Active Casework
Fed + State
Courts Qualified
Court-Ready Insights
Daubert and FRE 702, documentation discipline, and the case law that decides whether digital evidence survives.
Tools & Techniques
Artifact interpretation, validation, OSINT method, and where the leading forensic platforms end and your judgment begins.
Written From Casework
No vendor talking points. The failures and fixes come from real examinations, generalized so they teach without exposing any matter.
Digital Forensics TodayLinkedIn Newsletter · Published by Eric Waldrep
Follow on LinkedIn
The Archive

Every Issue, Free to Read

Each issue is a complete field guide on one problem: no teasers, no paywalls. The pitch, when there is one, sits in a clearly marked section at the end.

August 25, 2026 · 9 min read

Verified Is Not Complete.

A hash proves the bytes you collected did not change. It says nothing about whether anything else should have been collected. Why NIST lists incompleteness ahead of inaccuracy, and what Rule 702(d) now asks of an acquisition.

Read the issue →
August 18, 2026 · 17 min read

The Evidence Follows You Home: Mental Health in Digital Forensics

A first responder may encounter a horrific scene once. The examiner may encounter it hundreds of times. What the research says about burnout and vicarious trauma in DFIR, and what examiners and supervisors can actually do.

Read the issue →
August 2026 · 13 min read

The Finding Was Right. The Record Failed.

Examiners rarely lose on the analysis. They lose on when the note was written, which build of the tool produced it, and who authorized the act. The documentation discipline that keeps closed cases closed.

Read the issue →
August 11, 2026 · 12 min read

Nobody Cross-Examines the Tool.

Vendor certification proves you can operate the software, and you should get one. It is also not what opposing counsel asks about. The layer above the instrument is what gets tested under oath.

Read the issue →
August 4, 2026 · 9 min read

The Model Is Not Your Witness.

AI can compress a day of open-source work into an hour. It can also invent a source, a quote, and a court case without changing its tone. The verification discipline that takes the gain without the failure.

Read the issue →
July 28, 2026 · 16 min read

Search Is Cheap. Judgment Is Not.

The OSINT most people practice falls apart under one question. Eight practices for defensible open-source investigation, plus the capture and chain-of-custody section most guides skip.

Read the issue →

Prefer a feed reader? Subscribe to the RSS feed.

The Author

Written by the Examiner, Not a Content Team

Eric L. Waldrep
Eric L. Waldrep
Court-qualified digital forensic examiner · Magnet Certified Forensics Examiner · U.S. State Dept. ATA Cyber Mentor

Eric Waldrep has spent 27 years in law enforcement and 19+ years in active digital forensics, with casework for federal and state courts. He was selected by the U.S. State Department's Antiterrorism Assistance program to train allied nation law enforcement in digital forensics. Every issue of Digital Forensics Today comes from that casework: the failures he is asked to review, the questions he is asked under oath, and the practices that survive both. Case patterns are always generalized; no real matter is ever described.