Computer Forensic Investigator for Key Investigations in Legal Matters Computers have been in use since decades and, in recent times, the use of mobiles has overtaken that of computers. Apart from the known uses, these devices have also become tools of digital crime. One of the advantages of using digital tools is that it leaves no paper trail and it is difficult to gather evidence that will stand in a court of law. This is where computer forensic investigator plays a vital role in key investigations in legal matters that require evidence. A computer forensic investigator is an expert in electronic devices, especially computers and mobile devices and can use a variety of tools to collect data, analyze it and compile digital evidence that can be used as proof. His task includes document processing of a computer or mobile device regardless of its operating system and if a device is secured by a password he must know how to access it regardless and carry out electronic media imaging and analysis, recovery of metadata, email, text messages, internet usage, recover deleted files and present the data in a format that is acceptable.
Usually a suspect mobile device is seized and, in order to preserve the evidence, it is kept in a switched on condition, switched to the airplane mode in preference to placing it within a Faraday cage or bag to prevent reception of cell signals. The computer forensic investigator will also make use of SIM cloning tools to transfer all SIM data to another device for the purpose of analysis. Though there are sophisticated tools to recover files, an expert in computer forensics must also be good at Hex programming and editing to extract data from memory following a manual attempt at acquisition of data through the usual interface.
The simplest method is to photograph the screen contents but this does not get access to all data. In short, one tool does not work and experts must use a number of tools to ensure that nothing is left out in their attempt to recover data that will point to a crime and can be used as evidence. They are expert at following a cyber trail and reconstructing data. Whereas a mobile’s inbuilt storage and memory card are the main repositories of data in mobile devices, in computers it is usually the hard drive that stores information. The hard drive is the chief target of investigation in case of suspicion. Forensic cyber investigators help lawyers by recovering evidence from computers and mobiles and reconstructing them in a format acceptable to the court. Cyber crimes vary widely in nature, ranging from simple ones such as infidelity to illegal use of internet at work or even using the mobile or computer systems to hack into other systems and retrieve critical credit card information or passwords that could be used for other crimes such as theft and fraud.
Why employ a computer forensic investigator and why not an IT expert. Computer forensic investigators have the special training, knowledge and skills to search for, recover data and reconstruct it as well as figure out the intentions of the user from such data, which an IT personnel is not equipped to do. With their skills and tools they can get information not only from local hard disks but also from web servers, email accounts, cloud storage and also social media accounts. They have the certification and the experience to uncover crime in a way that IT specialists cannot.
Institute of Computer Foresnsic Examinations and Criminal Investigations 4360 Western Center Blvd., #304 Fort Worth 76137 Texas USA Email: daniel_james@att.net Web Site:https: https://www.icfeci.com/services/