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The Meaning Of Computer Forensics

Computer forensics is a branch in forensic science entailing the process of investigating crimes committed by the use of computer technology, mostly over the internet. The word ‘Forensics’ is commonly understood to mean bringing to court. Most states have enacted laws to regulate the admissibility, collecting, preserving and adducing of evidence collected though computer forensic technology in courts. This is often confused with the term digital forensics. The two terms are, however, generally related.

The meaning of digital forensics

Digital forensics is a forensic science branch, which encompasses the recovery and investigation of all the data and materials found or stored in the digital devices. Earlier, this term was synonymous to the computer forensics (discussed above) in relation to computer crime.

Its meaning has, however, been expanded to cover the investigation of all the digital devices which can store data including phones, cameras, memory cards, flash disks, CDs and DVDs, etc. It also includes the analysis of DNA, fingerprints, blood samples and other related items; it requires expertise of the highest degree.

These two technical terms are commonly used when discussing matters to do with computer or internet security. The perpetrators of a crime over the internet may be residing in different countries. The victims may be from several different and distant countries. It requires sophisticated government technology to trace those responsible for the crime being investigated.

It also requires the cooperation of the law enforcement authorities from different countries if the crime is extra territorial.

The process of investigation and prosecution of crimes committed over the internet is complex. It involves a complex system of tracing and collecting evidence, analyzing, organizing and then presenting it in court. The level and extent of government technology is directly related to its capability of dealing with computer crimes. The government must train its judicial officers, investigators and prosecutors on mobile device forensics, digital forensics, database forensics and internet forensics, in order to deal with computer crimes effectively.

Most crimes committed by the use of computers and over the internet are orchestrated and executed by well-trained computer professionals. The simple counter cyber crime training offered to most law enforcement authorities in the developing countries cannot meet the challenge of the internet hackers, online impostors, money launders and various other computer criminals. The successful investigation and prosecutions of computer crimes in the US and European countries, by use of the computer forensics technology, has proven that they are very effective in dealing with such crimes.

Recently, Geisinger Health Systems revealed beach of information related to around 2,928 patients. The data revealed includes Protected Health Information (PHI) of patients. The information was reportedly sent by a gastroenterologist from his work computer to his personal computer. The transmission was unencrypted. In this case, the transmitted information included medical record numbers, procedures, treatment information and health indications. Usually, PHI information also includes past and present health status, future indications, patient account information and social security numbers among others. Such information may be misused by offenders to misrepresent individuals and gain unauthorized benefit.

Usually, experts who have undertaken computer forensic training help organizations in tracking the offender. Computer forensic experts use procedures such as imaging and cryptographic hash verification to detect alteration of files and folders. In this case, professionals at Geisinger were able to detect unauthorized transmission of information. The physician cooperated with the authorities and deleted the information from his computer. Home email provider was also informed and requested to delete the email from their server. Fortunately, there was no malicious intention behind unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information by Geisinger employee. However, in most cases, cybercriminals use sophisticated techniques to intrude into computer systems and networks. Also, improper monitoring mechanisms may fail to detect unauthorized access and data breaches by insiders in an organization. It is important to punish cybercriminals to prevent recurrence of such crimes. Therefore, it is important to collect evidence, which is legally admissible in a court of law.

The affected systems must be quarantined to prevent tampering and modification of evidence. IT Department must have professionals with knowledge of computer forensic procedures to ensure protection of evidence. Organizations may encourage IT professionals to undertake computer forensics online training programs offered by universities and institutions offering security certifications to update themselves on the latest techniques, tools and best practices.

Individuals, government institutions, media and all forms of business organizations are affected by cybercrime. Recent events such as WikiLeaks disclosure, attack on university websites and state-sponsored attacks indicate the serious threats emanating in the cyberspace. Universities and educational institutions must encourage students to undertake computer forensics courses to deal with sophisticated crime as well as to meet future requirements of IT professionals.

As crime rates increase, it doesn’t only occur in your neighborhood but in the cyber world too. As digital data gets lost, corrupted, protected and tampered with, it is important to have computer forensics around to work the job and help solve problems. If you’ve had your eye on studying computer forensics and wanted to know about it a little more, such as who uses it and what is it used for, then read on.

For starters, you must understand that this area of study is pretty complex and requires a lot of skills. It’s used to extract digital data that has been lost, deleted or corrupted. Files that are important that have been protected by firewalls, passwords or those that have been removed from the database can e recovered with the right skills. What’s more, these forensics can do all of the above without tampering with the evidence too.

This is used by basically any company that has a computer database to keep things in order, particularly when they need to recover something.

However, computer forensics skills are more commonly used under the order of court to solve cyber crimes. It’s used by all the different law enforcement agencies that are working on crime cases and so on.

In addition to that, a few specific sectors that use this great service would be insurance companies to uncover hoax and illegal doings, criminal prosecutors to solve online crimes, private companies and citizens who may have accidentally lost their data or information.

Not just anybody can do this job as you would really need to have the passion, dedication, patience and interest. Whatever evidence that you would need to work with must be carefully handled and you would have to follow a certain set of guidelines as well.

All in all, computer forensics is an important career in today’s world, so if you’ve got the interest for it, go ahead and live your dreams.

More frequently known as forensics, forensics science includes all the applications linked to crimes and their legal investigations. In more recent years, life-based documentaries and television crime series have made forensics science a part of popular culture.

It seems like forensic investigations aren’t that hard to comprehend. Thus, in accordance with the laws and methodology of forensics science, specialists accumulate all the details that is to be utilized in a court of law for the conviction of a criminal.

Forensics science carries a lengthy tradition in the history of mankind, because it seems to have been utilized by the Romans for instance. Chinese and Western records do verify such proof. In the early 18th century, there were even treatises of forensic medicine and law enforcement medicine in service of the investigations for criminal acts, especially violent deaths.

This is how medical practitioners even came to recognize arsenic intoxication, therefore, managing to deal with poisoning cases.

Such procedures in police diagnosis contributed to the introduction of the forensics science as we all recognize it today.

The sub-divisions or applications that are at present belonging to the wider sector of forensics science consist of computational forensics, criminalistics, forensic anthropology, forensic geology, forensic toxicology and so on. As we are able to see from such examples, forensics assists more than the act of justice only.

There are particular subdivisions that serve well for archeology, geography and ethnology purposes for instance. Forensic anthropology identifies human remains, enabling the comprehension of various cultural and historic features with respect to the context and the precise place where the data was found.

Controversies have also endured over the years, mainly associated with some facets of forensics science that aren’t regarded as scientifically legitimate. Forensic dentistry for example causes problems since it is not regarded as viable for the conviction of criminals based on bite marks.

A lot of convicts were released in the usa, in 1999, specifically for the reason that dental evidence which was used for their conviction could have been wrong. Although it has advanced significantly, forensics science has a sinuous journey to cover before reaching perfection.

Many countries across the world do not have a mechanism to deal with the growing number of cybercrime incidents. The police force and counter-crime agencies are not fully equipped to investigate the sophisticated modus-operandi of the criminals. They are generally trained to deal with traditional crime and lack skill and expertise to handle complex cybercrime incidents. As a result, many computer crime incidents are left unreported. Lack of computer forensics skills also hampers the investigation process. Countries such as US and UK are also finding it difficult to keep pace with the rising Internet crime. Threats in the cyberspace require coordinated effort of different counter-crime agencies.

Recently, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inaugurated a $ 7 million new computer forensics lab in Orange, California to combat the increasing number of computer related crimes. The enormity of the computer and Internet related crime can be gauged by the fact that the newly opened facility is third such lab in California. There are fourteen other labs across US.

The lab will help FBI in coordinating with different counter-crime agencies in the country. The lab will facilitate computer forensic investigation through sophisticated software. The software will help forensic experts in extracting and analyzing data from computers, laptops, mobile phones, cameras and other digital devices. Computer forensics helps investigative authorities in collecting evidence and tracing the crime trail. Legally acceptable evidence is crucial to bring perpetrators of crime to justice.

Government and investigative agencies of other countries must also conduct computer forensic training programs and workshops to enlighten the police personnel on threats such as social engineering, phishing, identity theft, unauthorized access and other cyber threats. The training programs must also guide the personnel on incident handling, counter measures and safe computing practices. Counter-crime professionals can also benefit from the distance learning programs to update themselves on latest security threats and measures adopted by major investigative agencies across the world. Awareness of possible threats emanating from the cyberspace is crucial to encourage crime reporting. Availability of crime-related data will help investigators in analyzing the trends and initiating counter crime measures.