Investigative Computer Forensics: The Practical Guide for Lawyers, Accountants, Investigators, and Business Executives

INTRODUCTION

Investigative Computer Forensics

The past 20 years have seen an explosion of investigations that involve computers and technology. This growth parallels the impact of the information revolution and has forced radical change in the skill set required to investigate everything from common crime to sophisticated corporate fraud.

One of the results of this change has been that investigators quickly found themselves lacking the primary skills required to manage even the most basic of investigations if there was a computer, a cell phone, or technology involved. Similarly, computer technicians who were called in to fill the vacuum were equally compromised by their lack of traditional investigative skills, which in many cases led to poorly managed investigations in which the human component of a crime was overlooked in favor of the technical “digital smoking gun.”

Changes in Technology

Throughout the United States, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere massive backlogs of investigation work in which computers and technology played a role began to pile up and fill evidence cabinets, rooms, and storage houses. In many cases, particularly in the public law-enforcement realm, crimes against victims went unpunished for years while the accused languished in jail waiting for trials that relied on a technology analysis by experts that law enforcement simply did not have enough of.

I can remember one instance that I found particularly troublesome when I was provided a tour of a major U.S. policing ...