What Is Digital Forensics?

2007-10-17 Word Count: 760 Category: Data Recovery

Computers and Internet have made our lives easier. Using them, we can execute many tasks thought impossible earlier. Mails can be exchanged with someone sitting several continents away, digital photos can be sent over the Net and a huge amount of data can be exchanged among distant computers.

Criminals have not taken long to realise the immense potential of digital technology for their work. They have evolved a new type of crime – cyber-crime – that involves computers and the Internet. It is beyond the capability of law-enforcement agencies to solve cases of cyber-crime using traditional techniques. For this purpose, a new type of science has emerged, called digital forensics. It uses forensic techniques adapted to digital technology to solve cyber-crime. Digital forensics has its own special equipment and techniques.

There is an impression among people that cyber-space is like a huge forest where it is easy to commit a crime and become untraceable. Nothing could be farther from reality. It is true that digital data is easy to delete at the press of a button. However, it is almost impossible to destroy. How is this possible? Actually, when you create a data file on the computer, many versions of it are created and stored at different places. You can delete the file that is visible to you, but the other versions of the same file would still exist in cyber-space which can be accessed by the sleuths. In cyber-space, all your activities leave a very long trail indeed. You may manage to delete a few footprints visible to you, but the trail still remains and can be easily traced back to you.

Digital forensics is used to solve the following cases of cyber-crime:

Financial Fraud

This is one of the most prevalent types of cyber crime. In this, people are usually after your credit card number. They send hoax emails or open up fake websites that encourage you to buy something of value very cheaply. Of course, as you type in your credit card number and the secret code, the site owners copy it and then go on a shopping spree at your expense. Illegal bank transfers and accessing personal financial information are other types of financial fraud committed on the Internet.

Computer Hacking

Hacking involves gaining illegal entry into a computer through the Internet and taking it in one’s own control. Newspaper Websites are routinely hacked. Computers of banks and credit-card companies are especially at risk. Sometimes, intelligence agencies of hostile countries try to hack sensitive computers of other nations to gain confidential military information.

Threatening or Obscene Emails

Time was when threats and intimidation were delivered by phone or post. Now, emails are the preferred route taken by scamsters and gangsters. Businessmen and politicians routinely receive emails for extortion or giving threats. Then there are obscene emails circulated by somebody regarding some office colleague or friend. These may even be posted on the office Intra-net, leading to much discomfort and embarrassment of the victim.

Terrorism

Terrorists have become digital-friendly. The most common activity for which they use digital technology is sending emails and coordinating their movements. Digital forensic investigators specialise in intercepting and reading such emails to know the plans of terrorists. The latter also use computers and laptops to store their confidential information such as financial transactions, strike plans, bomb recipes and propaganda literature. Most such files are protected by passwords. Cracking these is a speciality of digital forensic investigators.

Industrial Espionage

In today’s world, competition is intense among businesses. Some of them do not want to do things the hard way, but take shortcuts. One of these is to start spying on competitors to get to know their business strategy expansion plans and upcoming new products. This mostly entails stealing files from their computers through hacking or bribing some disgruntled employee. Data such as engineering drawings, details of financial transactions and R&D results are in great demand.

Digital Evidence

One of the major tasks of digital forensic investigators is to collect digital evidence in such a way that it becomes admissible in the court. Such evidence is very important and can make the difference between someone losing or winning the case.

Child Porn

Child pornography on the Internet has taken dangerous and sinister proportions. It is something quite sub-human and all law-abiding citizens are revolted by the thought. Tracking child-porn vendors on the Net is the job of digital forensic investigators so that they can be brought to justice.