04/08/23 PHIT 2005 1

Computer Forensics & Electronic Evidence Reconstructing what happened

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Issues to think about… What’s Electronic Evidence (e-evidence)

…& why is it important?

What’s Computer Forensics …& why is it growing so fast?

Where’s the crime scene?

What’s on your PC, PDA, cell, GPS, camera,

…& what could they reveal?

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More issues to think about… Enrollment in comp sci, info systems, & IT

Demand for CF & network intrusion (NI) investigators

Gov’t, accounting, & IT sectors need CF & NI investigators (outsourcing to other countries—no)

Pren-Hall will be offering a full series of books to help launch & support your InfoSec/CF program

Steal back students from digital media program

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What’s Electronic Evidence …& why is it important?

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1st Why is Evidence important? In the legal world,

evidence is everything & the only thing Evidence is used to establish facts Evidence must be admissible in court or

legal action To be admissible, the investigator must

follow proper procedure

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E-evidence: Today's fingerprint & smoking gun

Zacarias Moussaoui 20th hijacker in the 9/11 terrorist attacks

against the U.S. his laptop, 4 computers, and several email

accounts (pilotz123@hotmail.com) were searched for e-evidence http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/09/04/moussaoui.computer/index.html

FBI discovered that the 19 hijackers used Kinko's computers in various cities to gain access to the Internet to plan 9/11.

Zacarias Moussaoui passing through a London airport. [BBC]

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11-digit computer code cracks the case It was neither a fingerprint nor physical evidence that led authorities to

the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be & fetus-kidnapping. It was IP address 65.150.168.223

Within hours of the killing of Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her home, investigators searched her PC to find her killer.

Police zeroed in on Lisa Montgomery by searching computer records, examining online message boards and by tracing an IP address to a computer at her home.

The IP address in & of itself led the FBI to her home.

By analyzing e-evidence on the victim’s PC, authorities cracked the case in a matter of hours & rescued the premature baby.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/18/fetus.found.alive/ http://www.eventhelix.com/RealtimeMantra/Networking/ip_routing.htm

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Crime Investigations

Crime investigations are searches for evidence—

& e-evidence—to trace & reconstruct what happened.

Digital profiling of crime suspects to trace who

did what when.

Data stored on or created by hard-drives, email

systems, cellular and handheld devices, or even

TiVo reveal a lot about a person and tell a lot

about that person’s friends, family, co-workers…

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What is CyberCrime?

A crime that involves computers, digital devices, or the Internet. A computer is:

• the target of an attack• the tool used in an attack• used to communicate or store data related to

criminal activity

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Computer Crime

Easy to commit—too many

vulnerable systems & gullible people

Crime without punishment—too often

Lots of media sensationalism &

public apathy

Leaves digital trails

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Types of Cyber Crime

Unauthorized Access Denial of Service Extortion Theft Sabotage Espionage Computer Fraud Embezzlement Copyright Violation Cyber terrorism

Forgery and Counterfeiting Internet Fraud Spoofing or “Imposter Sites” SEC Fraud and Stock

Manipulation Child Pornography Stalking & Harassment Credit Card Fraud & Skimming Identity theft Tsunami fraud

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Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

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Issues to think about…

What’s Computer Forensics …& why is it growing so fast?

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What is Computer Forensics?

A process of applying scientific & analytical techniques to computers, networks, digital devices, & files to discover or recover admissible evidence.

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Who needs Computer Forensics? The Victim! Businesses and government Financial sector Law Enforcement Those involved in marital or employment

disputes Anti-terrorist & National Security agencies Insurance Carriers Those in need of Data & Disaster Recovery

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Issues to think about…

Where’s the crime scene?

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Crime scene is where the evidence is

Information: 95% of information created &

worked on is only in electronic form.

Communication: Erosion of traditional

paper-based communication.

Access: Explosion of mobile, multi-purpose

devices with web access.

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Disk (data) Forensics Network Forensics Email Forensics Internet Forensics Portable Device Forensics (flash cards,

PDAs, Blackberries, email, pagers, cell phones, IM devices, etc.)

Types of Computer Forensics

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Disk Forensics

Disk forensics is the process of acquiring and analyzing the data stored on some form of physical storage media. Includes the recovery of hidden and

deleted data.

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Network Forensics

Network forensics is the process of examining network traffic. After-the-fact analysis of transaction logs Real-time analysis via network monitoring

• Sniffers• Real-time tracing

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Email Forensics Email forensics is the study of source and content of

electronic mail as evidence. identifying the actual sender and recipient of a

message, date/time it was sent. Often email is very incriminating.

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Tracking down Email Evidence

Reading Email Headers http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html

How to Interpret Email Headers http://help.mindspring.com/docs/006/emailheaders/

How do I get my email program to reveal the full, unmodified email? http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/19.html

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Internet Forensics

Internet or Web forensics is the process of piecing together where and when a user has been on the Internet. E.g., Scott Peterson,

Michael Jackson

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Source Code Forensics

To determine software ownership or software liability issues. Review of actual source code. Examination of the entire development

process, e.g., development procedures, documentation review, and review of source code revisions.

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Issues to think about…

What’s on your PC, PDA, cell, GPS, camera,

…& what could they reveal?

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Self-EvaluationSelf-Evaluation

If your email, cellular devices, voice-mail, digital camera, faxes, or files were subject to search & discovery, do you think there’d be any incriminating evidence that you broke a law?

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The Future of Computer Forensics

Computer forensics is now part of criminal investigations.

Crimes & methods to hide crimes are becoming more sophisticated.

Computer forensics will be in demand for as long as there are criminals and misbehaving people.

Will attract students and law professionals who need to update their skills.