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2025 guide to digital forensics tools for enterprises
After a data breach, organizations and law enforcement need to understand what happened. These 10 digital forensics tools collect the key evidence required for an investigation.
Digital forensics is the cornerstone of data breach investigations, enabling experts to uncover, analyze and interpret digital evidence. Businesses use digital forensics tools to conduct incident response and recover data. Companies also rely on these tools to analyze how a breach occurred, whether attackers accessed or exfiltrated data and how the malicious actors moved through the network.
Armed with digital forensics data, organizations can more accurately describe an attack to affected stakeholders and law enforcement. What's more, digital forensics generates information that helps companies better understand the tactics, techniques and procedures of cybercriminal groups.
Digital forensics tools range from all-encompassing suites to dedicated single products designed for specific tasks. Listed here are 10 tools used and respected by digital forensics experts for either criminal investigations, incident response or both.
Cellebrite
Cellebrite is the go-to provider of mobile forensics, offering broad support for mobile devices, as well as advanced data exfiltration. The company markets a variety of forensics platforms, including Cellebrite Universal Forensic Extraction Device, Cellebrite Inseyets, Cellebrite Physical Analyzer and Cellebrite Inspector.
Cellebrite products can be used in concert with other digital forensics tools. For example, a cybersecurity investigator can use Magnet Axiom for computer forensics and then switch to Cellebrite for mobile data extraction and analysis.
The company modernized its platform in 2025 to include a cloud version that enhances collaboration. It also added AI-powered enhancements aimed at reducing case review time. It can also detect AI modifications to images.
Contact Cellebrite for information and pricing about each of its forensics platforms.
Magnet Axiom
Magnet Forensics' Axiom is commonly used for high-level analysis. The popular tool offers a comprehensive feature set that reflects its higher price tag. It enables users to investigate and analyze computer, mobile, cloud and vehicle data.
Key benefits include automation and an accessible and simple-to-use UI. It has a community collaboration tool, Artifact Exchange, which lets users integrate community-written artifacts to analyze evidence not currently covered natively. The company recently expanded support enabling Axiom to analyze more evidence on a system -- for example, Microsoft Teams chats and ChatGPT logs.
Magnet offers organizations a free trial of the software. Contact the company for pricing.
Velociraptor
Velociraptor is an open source utility that gathers and stores event logs from an organization's endpoints. Internal security teams can then probe the results to pinpoint suspicious activity. The lightweight digital forensics tool's flexibility comes from its own programming language, Velociraptor Query Language, making the entire software customizable.
The latest updates to Velociraptor include a redesigned Sigma rule editor plus an expanded set of live-event sources for Windows and Linux, enabling real-time artifact capture. The tool, which was acquired by Rapid7 in 2001, has also been integrated into its managed detection and response platform.
Wireshark
Wireshark is open source network analysis software that has been in use for more than 25 years. It probes every network packet sent from and received by a device in both wired and wireless networks. Investigators can then determine the type of traffic, as well as its source and destination. Wireshark can help forensics experts analyze potential data breaches to uncover where an attacker is sending compromised data.
X-Ways Forensics
X-Ways Forensics is for investigators who prefer to manually analyze data instead of rely on automated software. It boasts advanced technical features for disk analysis, such as capturing and detailing drive contents, slack space and interpartition space. It operates on limited hardware.
Forensics experts can start their analysis using other tools, such as Magnet Axiom, and then delve into in-depth analysis using X-Ways. It requires extra training to use effectively because it is more complex than other tools in this list.
X-Ways offers nonperpetual and perpetual licenses starting at $1,539 and $3,969, respectively. The vendor also offers WinHex, Investigator and Imager licenses.
Autopsy
Open source Autopsy is built on Sleuth Kit, an open source library and collection of command-line tools for disk image investigations. It provides investigators with a GUI that lets them manage casework and analyze hard drives, mobile devices and cloud data. The tool is modular, with extensions available for tasks such as email parsing or malware triage.
Autopsy is widely used in both academic and professional environments thanks to its cost-free licensing, although its functionality is limited compared to commercial tools.
Magnet Response
Magnet Response is a free tool from Magnet Forensics that lets users quickly obtain device evidence, for example, in wake of a recent cyberincident or if there is a risk that evidence will be modified or lost.
Ideal for forensics investigators and nontechnical users, the tool runs from a single executable file on a USB key. The software also provides guidance on how to use it after it is run.
Oxygen Forensic Detective
Oxygen Forensic Detective from Oxygen Forensics is focused primarily on mobile data extraction. It lets investigators acquire and analyze data from iOS and Android devices, as well as from many cloud services and messaging platforms. Investigators can recover deleted data, extract artifacts from encrypted apps and probe communications through timeline and social graph views.
The product also uncovers data from drones and IoT devices.
Oxygen Forensics offers organizations a free 15-day trial of the software. Contact the company for pricing.
EnCase Forensic
OpenText Forensic, formerly EnCase, is a long-established digital forensics suite. Organizations use it to acquire and analyze data from desktops, servers, mobile devices and cloud sources. Its focus on evidential integrity makes its format widely accepted by courts, making OpenText Forensic a popular choice with law enforcement and the legal community.
Contact the company for pricing.
Forensic Explorer
Forensic Explorer (FEX), developed by GetData Forensics, is an alternative to some of the more expensive tools. It provides comprehensive support for file system analysis, deleted file recovery and keyword searching, and is particularly fast at combing through data from Windows systems. FEX includes a hex viewer for low-level inspection and integrates with GetData's Forensic Imager for imaging evidence. Investigators can script and automate parts of the workflow, making FEX a suitable tool for repetitive tasks during large investigations.
GetData offers FEX as a perpetual license for $2,595, making it an attractive option for law enforcement and corporate investigators who need a full forensic suite but might not require the same level of integration support with other tools.
Questions to consider when choosing digital forensics tools
Before purchasing digital forensics tools, organizations should ask the following key questions:
- What type of devices does the company use and where is data stored? If most of the company's data is in mobile devices and cloud systems, prioritize Cellebrite and Magnet Axiom, which focus on these areas.
- What kind of budget does the organization have for forensics tools? Depending upon the requirements of an investigation, experts often use multiple tools to handle different aspects of the forensics process. To that end, many organizations can get the results they need from free software, such as Velociraptor or Magnet Response.
Additional considerations include the following:
- Are the tools compliant with industry standards and best practices for digital forensics investigations?
- Are there additional costs associated with selecting a tool, such as specific licensing models, ongoing costs and maintenance fees?
- Are vendors willing to provide training and support?
Rob Shapland is an ethical hacker specializing in cloud security, social engineering and delivering cybersecurity training to companies worldwide.
