In one aspect of the present invention, a software component for conducting digital forensic searches is described. The software component has a header; one or more search markup language programs, and a data features section. The software component, also referred to as a search pack, enables a first entity, such as a federal investigation agency, to share its suspect and sensitive data with a second entity, such as another investigative agency in a manner that allows the second agency to utilize the suspect data while not revealing the actual content of the sensitive data to the second agency. The second agency can perform comparisons and other operations on the sensitive data without having to know the actual content of the data. The search pack allows an investigative agency to define an investigative strategy for a particular case via the search markup language programs and by the data features that it includes in the search pack. Thus, by sharing search packs among agencies, an agency can share or inform others of that agency's theory of the case and investigative goal. Search packs can also be updated automatically as new information is learned about a particular case. A search pack is updated is determined by the agency that created it and manages it.