18. The digital forensic analysis method of claim 8 , further comprising: representing sensitive data using a digital fingerprint to prevent disclosure of said sensitive data to said at least one computing platform associated with a second agency.
8. A digital forensic analysis method, comprising: extracting information from input data; detecting suspect data contained in said extracted data using a forensic search tool of a computing platform associated with a first agency, said detecting performed by matching said extracted data with one or more pre-defined data patterns specified by said forensic search tool, wherein said suspect data comprises data identified by said forensic search tool as being associated with inappropriate or illegal activities; including the suspect data and a non-readable and non-modifiable representation of sensitive data in the forensic search tool; outputting a report identifying said suspect data; and outputting said forensic search tool by said computing platform associated with said first agency to at least one computing platform associated with a second agency, wherein the digital forensic search tool comprises a header; a search markup language portion; a data features portion containing features of data, wherein the digital forensic search tool enables said computing platform associated with said first agency to share the suspect data with said at least one computing platform associated with said second agency in a manner that enables utilization of the suspect data by the second agency while not revealing the actual content of the sensitive data to the second agency, and wherein said forensic search tool is implemented using said search markup language to permit sharing of said forensic search tool by said computing platform associated with the first agency with said at least one computing platform associated with the second agency.