Computer Forensics Hollywood Florida Private Detective

South Florida Computer Forensics

My last blog discussed your children and Internet safety; today I will review computer forensics and an overview of forensic investigations. What would you do if you realized that while you read this blog, every pathway from the second you turned your computer on, until the second you think you shut the computer down is encoded and copied? Do you still have a right to privacy? Is the computer you are reading this on now yours, or is it the property of your employer? If the answer is the latter, does your employer not have the right to ensure that you are doing work on their time? Have you ever realized that even after you delete documents, e-mails, instant messages, chat sessions, and cell phone backups your information can be restored. Computer forensics has been defined as the science of applying computer science to aid the legal process. In our experience we have been called upon by parents to monitor their teenager&risqué;s computer activity, by business men and women that deleted work files, doctoral students that have deleted their thesis, criminal investigations to clone hard drives and establish a timeline of activity among many other computer forensics investigations. When you think of Big Brother you may not completely understand the comprehensive realm of computer forensics. Basically, anything that has an internal memory or memory device has the ability for computer forensics investigators to recover data.

With the ever growing digital age, we have been able to utilize forensic investigations on computers to assist in documenting and presenting evidence in a variety of cases from attempted homicide, employee theft, adults preying on children online, among other private investigations. The systematic inspection of computers, cell phones, pda&risqué;s, USB devices, or other digital memory devices can support evidence in a civil investigation, criminal investigation, or for personal data recovery or employee monitoring. Computer forensics requires specialized expertise and tools that goes above and beyond the normal data collection and preservation techniques available to end-users or system support personnel.

The computer forensic private investigator can render an opinion, based upon the examination of the material that has been recovered. After rendering an opinion and report, to determine whether they are or have been used for criminal, civil or unauthorized activities, many times the forensic investigation speaks for itself. The ability to complete a variety of investigative searches is essential. Some children will find when parents monitor their computers an invasion of privacy, however their innocence can be exploited. Computer monitoring software and open discussions with your children will take the DO NOT TALK TO STRANGERS talk to the new millennium stranger, the Internet predator.

The use of digital evidence has increased in the past few decades as courts have allowed the use of e-mails, digital photographs, ATM transaction logs, word processing documents, instant message histories, files saved from accounting programs, spreadsheets, Internet browser histories, databases, the contents of computer memory, computer backups, computer printouts, Global Positioning System tracks, logs from a hotel&risqué;s electronic door locks, and digital video or audio files. Florida computer forensic private investigators are used now more than ever to preserve evidence, recover data, analyze information, interpret and present the findings based on the recovered computer forensics.

Computer Forensic Examples

Forensics can be defined as the use of technology and science for investigation and fact recovery when dealing with criminal matters. Computer forensics is the technological aspect of retrieving evidence to use within criminal or civil courts of law. They are able to recover damaged and deleted files. Some cases in particular used the art of computer forensics as their lead of evidence to indict a criminal offender or find the location of a missing person.

Example One
Chandra Levy , who went missing on April 30 , 2001, was a Washington, D.C. intern whose disappearance was widely publicized. While her location was unknown, she had used the Internet as well as e-mail to make travel arrangements and to communicate with her parents. The use of this technology helped a computer criminalist trace her whereabouts. The information found on her computer led police to her location, even though she had been missing for one year.

Example two
There have been a number of cases at private schools where authority figures have been charged with possession of child pornography. These discoveries were made using computer forensics. By tracking the buying and selling of pornography online, computer forensic investigators have been able to locate people involved in these crimes. They are able to use information found on the computers as circumstantial evidence in court, allowing prosecution to occur.

Example three
A final example of how computer forensics is affecting the current workplace is the aspect of security. Employees' work computers are now being monitored to ensure no illegal actions are taking place in the office. They also have heightened security so outsiders cannot access a company’s confidential files. If this security is broken a company is then able to use computer forensics to trace back to which computer was being tampered with and what information was extracted from it, possibly leading to the guilty parties and other potential parties involved.
Hopefully this helps as many people e-mailed me and asked for more information on employment and children monitoring forensics. Feel free to read more on my webpage http://www.ctkinvestigations.com/ .