In the News: Police and Security News
Computer Forensics Article
September '97 issue of Police and Security News
While searching a suspect's home or business, you find a computer. As you look more closely, you notice a clear fingerprint on the glass of the monitor. Which is more likely to give you the evidence you need, the fingerprint or the computer itself? In an increasing number of cases, it's the computer. What do you do with the computer once you've found it? Like fingerprints and other physical evidence, computers must be seized properly to be of any use.
Computer forensics is rapidly becoming recognized by the legal and law enforcement communities as a science on a par with the other forensic sciences. As this trend continues, it will become even more important to handle and examine computer evidence properly. Not every department or organization has the resources to have a trained computer forensics specialist on staff. Therefore, it is vitally important for law enforcement personnel to know the basics of computer seizure and to know where to go for help once the evidence has been seized.
Like the lifting of fingerprints, computer evidence seizure is something that can be taught. This article will walk you through the proper steps to take in a case involving a computer, including warrant preparation, seizure and analysis. First, though, you might wonder what type of cases can involve computer evidence. There are some federal and state statutes which specifically deal with computer crime, including prohibitions against trafficking in computer passwords, computer fraud. However, computer evidence can often be used in the prosecution of crimes under many other statutes.
Gaining Recognition
There are two main ways in which computers can be used as evidence. Computers can be used to commit a crime, or to store information relating to a crime (of course, computers can also be the target of theft, but those cases usually do not require computer forensic analysis). A hacker breaking into a business computer system to steal credit card numbers or someone committing fraud on the Internet are examples of using a computer to commit a crime. There is a lot of variety in the ways in which computers can be used to store information about a crime. Drug dealers can keep computerized customer and supplier lists, crimes can be planned through electronic mail, and a remarkable number of people (including criminals) keep diaries on their computers.
