Career in Computer Forensics
Content
A new dimension, Career in Computer Forensics!
Be it 9/11 attack on Pentagon and WTC or 26/11 attack in Mumbai, it has been master minded by ‘White Collar’ Criminals who have effectively used the Computers and Information Technology, per se. Recent attack of Chinese Hackers on Google and PMO in India go to prove that Cyber Crime is increasing day by day. Cyber Crime Investigation can effectively be carried out by the investigation involves painstaking collection of clues, forensic evidence, and attention to detail. This is more so in these days of ‘white collar’ crime where documentary evidence plays a crucial role. With an increasing number of households and businesses using computers, coupled with easy Internet access. It is inevitable that there will be at least one electronic device found during the course of an investigation. This may be a computer, but could also be a printer, mobile phone, and personal organizer. This electronic device may be central to the investigation. No matter which, the information held on the computer may be crucial and must be investigated in the proper manner, especially if any evidence found is to be relied upon in a court of law. On January 11, 2010, a police unit set up to support forces dealing with extremism in the UK is helping investigate the leaking of climate change data in Norfolk. In November it was revealed that the computer server at the Climate Change Unit at the University of East Anglia had been hacked and e-mails leaked. An inquiry was started by Norfolk Police. Now it has been revealed the force is getting help from the National Domestic Extremism Unit, based in Huntingdon. A spokesman for the unit said: "At present we have two police officers assisting Norfolk with their investigation, and we have also provided computer forensic expertise. Here is a different type of story. On Oct. 17, 2009, an armed assailant robbed two men outside a housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y. Almost immediately, the police focused their investigation on Rodney Bradford, a 19-year-old resident of the housing project who had been indicted a year earlier for a similar robbery. After one of the victims positively identified Bradford in a police lineup, the police arrested him and charged him with first-degree robbery. Open-and-shut case, right? No way. It turns out Bradford was innocent and he had an airtight alibi to prove it. At the time of the crime, he was 12 miles away at his father's house in Harlem, updating his Facebook status. After the district attorney subpoenaed Facebook and received the exculpatory evidence, Bradford was cleared of all charges and released. Thanks to Computer Forensics. Bradford's experience is a powerful reminder of the impact that Web 2.0 technologies like Facebook are having on our world today. For practitioners, it's time to stop dismissing or ignoring these technologies and embrace them. They represent a vast new source of evidence for the attentive lawyer, innovative tools for the savvy litigator, and perhaps most importantly, they're not going away. Dr. H.B. Wolfe defines Computer Forensics as “A methodical series of techniques and procedures for gathering evidence, from computing equipment and various storage devices and digital media, that can be presented in a court of law in a coherent and meaningful format”
It defines the preservation, identification, extraction, interpretation, and documentation of computer evidence, to include the rules of evidence, legal processes, integrity of evidence, factual reporting of the information found, and providing expert opinion in a court of law or other legal and/or administrative proceeding as to what was found. Helps to recover, analyze, and preserve computer and related materials in such a way that it can be presented as evidence in a court of law and to identify the evidence in short time, estimate the potential impact of the malicious activity on the victim, and assess the intent and identity of the perpetrator Why is Computer Forensics Important? Adding the ability to practice sound computer forensics will help you ensure the overall integrity and survivability of your network infrastructure. It helps understanding the legal and technical aspects of computer forensics will help you capture vital information if your network is compromised and will help you prosecute the case if the intruder is caught Need for Computer Forensics:It ensures the overall integrity and continued existence of an organization’s computer system and network infrastructure. It extracts, processes, and interprets the factual evidence so that it proves the attacker’s actions in the court. It efficiently tracks down perpetrators from different parts of the world and saves the organization’s money and valuable time. Benefits of Forensic Readiness:Evidence can be gathered to act in the company's defense if subject to a lawsuit. In the event of a major incident, a fast and efficient investigation can be conducted and corresponding actions can be followed with minimal disruption to the business. Forensic readiness can extend the target of information security to the wider threat from cybercrime, such as intellectual property protection, fraud, or extortion. Fixed and structured approach for storage of evidence can considerably reduce the expenses and time of an internal investigation. It can improve and make the interface to law enforcement easier Also good and quick investigation can be conducted in case of a major incident Where and when do you Use Computer Forensics:It is used to provide a real evidence such as reading bar codes, magnetic tapes, to identify the occurrence of the electronic transactions and to reconstruct an incidence with a sequence of events It is used whenever a breach of contract occurs or a copyright and intellectual property theft/misuse happens or if there is an Employee disputes or damage to resources Criminal Justice System needs Computer Forensics because by and large, 90% of legal evidence resides in computer systems, rather than on paper. Cases involving corporate trade secrets, personal and commercial disputes, employment discrimination, misdemeanour and felony crimes, and personal injury can be won or lost solely with the introduction of recovered email messages and other electronic files and records!
Of late dependency on the computer has given way to new crimes. Computer is used as a tool for committing crimes. Computer crimes pose new challenges for investigators due to their speed, anonymity and fleeting nature of evidence. Some key examples of Cyber Crime are Fraud achieved by the manipulation of the computer records, Spamming wherever outlawed completely or where regulations controlling it are violated, Deliberate circumvention of the computer security systems, Unauthorized access to or modification of programs and data, Intellectual property theft, including software piracy and Industrial espionage by means of access to or theft of computer materials Need for Forensic Investigator:Examination of a computer by the technically inexperienced person will almost certainly result in rendering any evidence found inadmissible in a Court of Law. Anyone overseeing network security must also be aware of the legal implications of forensic activity. Security professionals need to consider their policy decisions and technical actions in the context of existing laws. For instance, you must have authorization before you monitor and collect information related to a computer intrusion. There are also legal ramifications to using security monitoring tools. It also helps you create ddigital Evidence i.e. any information of probative value that is either stored or transmitted in a digital form. Digital information can be gathered while examining digital storage media, monitoring the network traffic, or making the duplicate copies of digital data found during forensics investigation. The Solution? The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in various e-business and security skills. It is the owner and developer of the world famous Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI), and Licensed Penetration Tester (L|PT) programs and various others offered in over 60 countries around the globe including India thro their Accredited.Trainimng Centers. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the US Federal Government via the Montgomery GI Bill, and the US Government National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) certifying EC-Council Network Security Administrator (E|NSA) program for meeting the 4011 training standard for information security professionals. Individuals who have achieved EC-Council certifications include those from some of the finest organizations around the world such as the US Army, the FBI, Microsoft, IBM and the United Nations. EC-Council is the creator of the Hacker Halted conference and workshop series. The objective of Hacker Halted series of conferences is to raise international awareness towards increased education and ethics in information security. Another EC-Council event series is the Security Summit which is a road-show as a platform to expose individuals in the host cities of the need for information security and to help them understand the current trends and issues in information Security. EC-Council also conducts Webminars periodically to create the awareness.
CHFI (Computer Hacking & Forensic Investigator) course covers nearly everything related to computer forensics and investigation. It is complete vendor neutral course. It covers almost all available methods of forensics investigations and extensively covers, vulnerabilities, attacks and different security issues associated with various OS and how they interact with each other in a real time deployment scenario. Stylus Academy at Bhilai is the first ever ATC in Central India and is equipped with the latest hardware to provide ‘Hands on’ training to all modules covered in the track guided by the faculty trained by the council. Police, Defense and Military personnel, e-Business Security professionals, Systems administrators, Banking, Financial, Legal professionals, Government agency personnel, and IT managers are the targeted audience for these courses. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics puts an average salary of a computer forensics professional at $70,000 per year. Computer Hacking Forensic Investigators being hired in the field of Information Security to stop hackers, computer based attacks, and recover from data breach incidents, in Legal to Win civil and criminal cases involving electronically stored evidence and in Law Enforcement/Defense Industrial Base to arrest and prosecute criminals/Deter enemies. Organizations like General Dynamics, Jefferson Wells & IBM regularly hire such professionals, Further details can be obtained from www.stylusacademy.com.
Be it 9/11 attack on Pentagon and WTC or 26/11 attack in Mumbai, it has been master minded by ‘White Collar’ Criminals who have effectively used the Computers and Information Technology, per se. Recent attack of Chinese Hackers on Google and PMO in India go to prove that Cyber Crime is increasing day by day. Cyber Crime Investigation can effectively be carried out by the investigation involves painstaking collection of clues, forensic evidence, and attention to detail. This is more so in these days of ‘white collar’ crime where documentary evidence plays a crucial role. With an increasing number of households and businesses using computers, coupled with easy Internet access. It is inevitable that there will be at least one electronic device found during the course of an investigation. This may be a computer, but could also be a printer, mobile phone, and personal organizer. This electronic device may be central to the investigation. No matter which, the information held on the computer may be crucial and must be investigated in the proper manner, especially if any evidence found is to be relied upon in a court of law. On January 11, 2010, a police unit set up to support forces dealing with extremism in the UK is helping investigate the leaking of climate change data in Norfolk. In November it was revealed that the computer server at the Climate Change Unit at the University of East Anglia had been hacked and e-mails leaked. An inquiry was started by Norfolk Police. Now it has been revealed the force is getting help from the National Domestic Extremism Unit, based in Huntingdon. A spokesman for the unit said: "At present we have two police officers assisting Norfolk with their investigation, and we have also provided computer forensic expertise. Here is a different type of story. On Oct. 17, 2009, an armed assailant robbed two men outside a housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y. Almost immediately, the police focused their investigation on Rodney Bradford, a 19-year-old resident of the housing project who had been indicted a year earlier for a similar robbery. After one of the victims positively identified Bradford in a police lineup, the police arrested him and charged him with first-degree robbery. Open-and-shut case, right? No way. It turns out Bradford was innocent and he had an airtight alibi to prove it. At the time of the crime, he was 12 miles away at his father's house in Harlem, updating his Facebook status. After the district attorney subpoenaed Facebook and received the exculpatory evidence, Bradford was cleared of all charges and released. Thanks to Computer Forensics. Bradford's experience is a powerful reminder of the impact that Web 2.0 technologies like Facebook are having on our world today. For practitioners, it's time to stop dismissing or ignoring these technologies and embrace them. They represent a vast new source of evidence for the attentive lawyer, innovative tools for the savvy litigator, and perhaps most importantly, they're not going away. Dr. H.B. Wolfe defines Computer Forensics as “A methodical series of techniques and procedures for gathering evidence, from computing equipment and various storage devices and digital media, that can be presented in a court of law in a coherent and meaningful format”
It defines the preservation, identification, extraction, interpretation, and documentation of computer evidence, to include the rules of evidence, legal processes, integrity of evidence, factual reporting of the information found, and providing expert opinion in a court of law or other legal and/or administrative proceeding as to what was found. Helps to recover, analyze, and preserve computer and related materials in such a way that it can be presented as evidence in a court of law and to identify the evidence in short time, estimate the potential impact of the malicious activity on the victim, and assess the intent and identity of the perpetrator Why is Computer Forensics Important? Adding the ability to practice sound computer forensics will help you ensure the overall integrity and survivability of your network infrastructure. It helps understanding the legal and technical aspects of computer forensics will help you capture vital information if your network is compromised and will help you prosecute the case if the intruder is caught Need for Computer Forensics:It ensures the overall integrity and continued existence of an organization’s computer system and network infrastructure. It extracts, processes, and interprets the factual evidence so that it proves the attacker’s actions in the court. It efficiently tracks down perpetrators from different parts of the world and saves the organization’s money and valuable time. Benefits of Forensic Readiness:Evidence can be gathered to act in the company's defense if subject to a lawsuit. In the event of a major incident, a fast and efficient investigation can be conducted and corresponding actions can be followed with minimal disruption to the business. Forensic readiness can extend the target of information security to the wider threat from cybercrime, such as intellectual property protection, fraud, or extortion. Fixed and structured approach for storage of evidence can considerably reduce the expenses and time of an internal investigation. It can improve and make the interface to law enforcement easier Also good and quick investigation can be conducted in case of a major incident Where and when do you Use Computer Forensics:It is used to provide a real evidence such as reading bar codes, magnetic tapes, to identify the occurrence of the electronic transactions and to reconstruct an incidence with a sequence of events It is used whenever a breach of contract occurs or a copyright and intellectual property theft/misuse happens or if there is an Employee disputes or damage to resources Criminal Justice System needs Computer Forensics because by and large, 90% of legal evidence resides in computer systems, rather than on paper. Cases involving corporate trade secrets, personal and commercial disputes, employment discrimination, misdemeanour and felony crimes, and personal injury can be won or lost solely with the introduction of recovered email messages and other electronic files and records!
Of late dependency on the computer has given way to new crimes. Computer is used as a tool for committing crimes. Computer crimes pose new challenges for investigators due to their speed, anonymity and fleeting nature of evidence. Some key examples of Cyber Crime are Fraud achieved by the manipulation of the computer records, Spamming wherever outlawed completely or where regulations controlling it are violated, Deliberate circumvention of the computer security systems, Unauthorized access to or modification of programs and data, Intellectual property theft, including software piracy and Industrial espionage by means of access to or theft of computer materials Need for Forensic Investigator:Examination of a computer by the technically inexperienced person will almost certainly result in rendering any evidence found inadmissible in a Court of Law. Anyone overseeing network security must also be aware of the legal implications of forensic activity. Security professionals need to consider their policy decisions and technical actions in the context of existing laws. For instance, you must have authorization before you monitor and collect information related to a computer intrusion. There are also legal ramifications to using security monitoring tools. It also helps you create ddigital Evidence i.e. any information of probative value that is either stored or transmitted in a digital form. Digital information can be gathered while examining digital storage media, monitoring the network traffic, or making the duplicate copies of digital data found during forensics investigation. The Solution? The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in various e-business and security skills. It is the owner and developer of the world famous Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI), and Licensed Penetration Tester (L|PT) programs and various others offered in over 60 countries around the globe including India thro their Accredited.Trainimng Centers. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the US Federal Government via the Montgomery GI Bill, and the US Government National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) certifying EC-Council Network Security Administrator (E|NSA) program for meeting the 4011 training standard for information security professionals. Individuals who have achieved EC-Council certifications include those from some of the finest organizations around the world such as the US Army, the FBI, Microsoft, IBM and the United Nations. EC-Council is the creator of the Hacker Halted conference and workshop series. The objective of Hacker Halted series of conferences is to raise international awareness towards increased education and ethics in information security. Another EC-Council event series is the Security Summit which is a road-show as a platform to expose individuals in the host cities of the need for information security and to help them understand the current trends and issues in information Security. EC-Council also conducts Webminars periodically to create the awareness.
CHFI (Computer Hacking & Forensic Investigator) course covers nearly everything related to computer forensics and investigation. It is complete vendor neutral course. It covers almost all available methods of forensics investigations and extensively covers, vulnerabilities, attacks and different security issues associated with various OS and how they interact with each other in a real time deployment scenario. Stylus Academy at Bhilai is the first ever ATC in Central India and is equipped with the latest hardware to provide ‘Hands on’ training to all modules covered in the track guided by the faculty trained by the council. Police, Defense and Military personnel, e-Business Security professionals, Systems administrators, Banking, Financial, Legal professionals, Government agency personnel, and IT managers are the targeted audience for these courses. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics puts an average salary of a computer forensics professional at $70,000 per year. Computer Hacking Forensic Investigators being hired in the field of Information Security to stop hackers, computer based attacks, and recover from data breach incidents, in Legal to Win civil and criminal cases involving electronically stored evidence and in Law Enforcement/Defense Industrial Base to arrest and prosecute criminals/Deter enemies. Organizations like General Dynamics, Jefferson Wells & IBM regularly hire such professionals, Further details can be obtained from www.stylusacademy.com.
