Computer Forensics - Finding Out What The Bad Guys Did With Their Computers!

Computer forensics is a lot like the CSI investigation programs on the television.  Using advanced techniques and technologies, a computer forensic scientist will reconstruct a possible crime using the data that one computer systems.  This data may include email trails, files, hidden directories and other related clues.
Computer forensics is a lot like the CSI investigation programs on the television.  Using advanced techniques and technologies, a computer forensic scientist will reconstruct a possible crime using the data that one computer systems.  This data may include email trails, files, hidden directories and other related clues. 

Computer Forensics is the scientific study of computers or computer related data in relation to an investigation by a law enforcement agency for use in a court of law. While this technology may be as old as computers themselves, the advances in technology are constantly revising this science. 

While all computer languages are created with ones and zeros, it's much easier to track what was done when, although by whom continues to be problematic.  Forensic science has done well to keep up with the task of tracking and tracing what is done and creation of a timeline in an attempt to reconstruct a possible crime.  Although it's possible to clean and remove data from a hard drive, most people simply think that a delete key really removed the data.  In actuality, the delete key simply removed the file location from an index file and the actual data is still safely on the system.  It's up to the data recovery skills of the forensic computer personnel to capture and restore that data without modification. 

Computer forensics can be used to track emails, instant messaging and just about any other form of computer related communications. This can be necessary, especially in the world where computers and data travel around the world in seconds.  Packet sniffers can literally be placed within a data stream and provide information on what's running through the network in real time.  This is really phenomenal considering the millions upon millions of data packets moving through any individual part of the network. 

Computer forensic science is an interesting niche in the law enforcement field that is seldom considered as a career.  As it's relatively new, the field is considered by many to be wide open for anyone with the initiative to learn the skills. Unlike many computer related jobs, a computer forensic specialist will not be outsourced to a country on the other side of the world.  The confidentiality of the data is just too sensitive to allow it to travel throughout the world just to save a little cash.

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Computer Forensics

Computer Forensics: Unique computer use policy.
Computer use policy to suit your business needs and applying computer forensics to prevent the unauthorized access to employees’ computers.
The investigator waited until midnight, when the plant was empty, and thousands of computers had “slipped into screen-saver slumber.” Furtively, he sat in front of a colleague’s personal computer. In half an hour, the detective made an exact copy of the colleague’s hard drive. Then, using a program called Encase, he uncovered hundreds of pornographic images, which eventually cost the coworker his job.

Workplace computers are company property, so employers may inspect their contents. Only in Connecticut must employers inform workers of computer monitoring. According to the American Management Association, 45 percent of our nation’s large companies use “computer forensics” to electronically monitor workers’ computers.

The number of employees involved in Internet-related crimes or violations of company computer use policy is rising. Dow Chemical fired or disciplined 200 employees for trading dirty jokes and photos by e-mail. Then Xerox fired 40 workers, and the New York Times terminated 23 employees for similar violations.

Recently a small firm in Utah noticed that its servers were full. An employee remarked that several workers were regularly downloading music albums from Napster. The albums ended up on the servers, taking up megabytes of valuable space. An innocent (or intentional?) act had disrupted this company’s day-to-day operations.

Smaller businesses usually can’t afford the $200-450-per-hour fees charged by computer forensics consultants. But, by publishing company computer/internet policies and corresponding consequences for violations, requiring employees to sign compliance documents, regularly checking e-mail and hard drive contents, and asking employees to report infractions, small businesses can begin to police their own computer systems. Making employees aware that forensic software and personnel are available could deter some workers from wrongdoing. Call AmCheck for assistance in developing a computer use policy at 888-AMCHECK.

(Source: Miller, Greg  “High-Tech Snooping All in Day’s Work; Security: Some Firms Are Now Using Computer Investigators to Uncover Employee Wrongdoing” Los Angeles Times HR News Wire.)

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