The Computer Investigation Process

Computer Crime Investigation : Dangers from Within

With the apparent risks of computer-related crimes , there is an immediate need to thwart all kinds of threats that compromise the security of all company and government data . Computer investigation could entail looking at all of these data types depending on the circumstances . The role of computer forensics in the Information Age is definitely vital to protect and secure intellectual property

UC Berkley reported in a recent study that around 92 percent of the company 's documentation is stored in a digital format . As companies seek

br to become more of a less society , the risk becomes greater for businesses to protect their intellectual property (Hopkins , October 2005

In 2003 alone , the FBI reported that intellectual property or the theft of proprietary information loss for companies based on a small number of businesses that did report . These numbers come from companies that voluntarily report these incidents to the FBI to generate the basis of the security concerns . If all the companies would be forced to report , the numbers would be frightening for companies to get a true picture of computer security in the US (FBI Computer Crime Survey , 2005

The US Department of Justice broadly defines computer crime as "any violations of criminal law that involve knowledge of computer technology for their perpetration , investigation , or prosecution (National Institute of Justice , 1989 . Because of the diversity of computer related offenses , a narrower definition would not be adequate . While the term "computer crime " includes traditional crimes committed with the use of a computer , the rapid emergence of computer technologies and the Internet 's exponential expansion have spawned a variety of new technology-specific criminal behaviors that must also be included in the category of "computer crimes " As a result , there has been a dramatic increase in specialized legislation to combat these new criminal behaviors (Adams , 1996

Experts have had difficulty calculating the damage caused by computer crimes , due to the difficulty in adequately defining computer crimes , to victims ' reluctance to report incidents for fear of losing customer confidence and to the lack of detection . However , estimates put the yearly loss to the United States in the billions of dollars (Olivenbaum 1997

In view of this , computer forensics role in the Information Age has to be promulgated effectively in to prevent further damage by these computer crimes . Computer forensics is defined as the preservation identification , extraction , interpretation , and documentation of computer evidence , to include the US Department of Justice rules of evidence , legal processes , integrity of evidence , factual reporting of the information found , and ability to provide expert opinion in a court of law or other legal proceeding as to what was found . This could entail the confirming and preventing theft of information and intellectual property through internal examination and monitoring of usage Investigations , in most cases are conducted in a reactionary situation however today more . Proactive computer forensic examinations are used for monitoring and in some cases (Global Digital Forensics Website

In the Global Digital Forensics (GDF...