Criminals often rely on basic yet effective anti-forensics techniques to hide their digital activities and data. The simplest methods focus on deletion and destruction to eliminate evidence. This includes using specialized tools like “wipers” which is often a non-woven, lint-free cloths or pre-saturated wipes (sometimes with isopropyl alcohol or other solvents) used to clean sensitive equipment and surfaces in controlled environments such as cleanrooms, aerospace manufacturing, electronics production or pharmaceutical labs to securely erase files or even an entire hard drive by overwriting the data multiple times which makes recovery virtually impossible (EC-Council & Test-king.com).

Another common but simple technique is log clearing or tampering where criminals delete or alter system logs and event records that track their actions which destroy the timeline of the attack (Test-king.com). To hide the meaning of data, they use encryption turning files or communications into unreadable code without a key which is a technique employed extensively in ransomware attacks (Bulletproof.co.uk & EC-Council). For anonymity in their communication, the simplest approach is to use tools like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or the Tor network to mask their true IP address and location (IT Governance Blog).

References

Bulletproof.co.uk. How Do Hackers Hide? – Tactics & Techniques Revealed.

EC-Council. Five Anti-Forensic Techniques Used to Cover Digital Footprints.

IT Governance Blog. Anti-Forensics: What it is, Examples and How to Defend Against it.

Test-king.com. Avoiding Detection: The 8 Most Effective Anti-Forensics Techniques.