DIGITAL FORENSIC AND ELECTRONIC SECURITY
Author: Pusprita Chowdhury, III year of B.B.A., LL.B.(Hons.) from Amity University Kolkata
In this era of technology, Cybercrime has become the most committed crime done by criminals. So, it has become necessary to curve those crimes and punish the criminals. In this assignment, I would like to state what “Digital forensic and Electronic security” is all about.
Digital Forensics may be a branch of forensic science which incorporates the identification, collection, analysis and reporting of any valuable digital information within the digital devices associated with the pc crimes, as a part of the investigation.
In simple words, Digital Forensics is the process of identifying, preserving, analyzing and presenting digital shreds of evidence. The first computer crimes were recognized within the 1978 Florida computers act and after this, the sector of digital forensics grew pretty fast within the late 1980-90s. It includes the world of studies like storage media, hardware, OS, network and applications.
Digital forensics (sometimes mentioned as digital forensic science) could even be a branch of forensic science encompassing the recovery and investigation of fabric found in digital devices, often about computer crime. The term digital forensics was originally used as a synonym for computer forensics but has expanded to hide investigation of all devices capable of storing digital data. With roots within the personal computing revolution of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the discipline evolved haphazardly during the 1990s, and it had been not until the first 21st century that national policies emerged.[1]
Digital forensics investigations have a variety of applications. The most common is to support or refute a hypothesis before criminal or civil courts. Criminal cases involve the alleged breaking of laws that are defined by legislation which is enforced by the police and prosecuted by the state, like murder, theft and assault against the person. Civil cases on the opposite hand affect protecting the rights and property of people (often related to family disputes) but can also worry about contractual disputes between commercial entities where a sort of digital forensics mentioned as electronic discovery (e-discovery) could also be involved.
It consists of five steps:
Identification of Evidence: Identify the purpose of the investigation and Identify the resources required
Collection: Data is isolate, secure and preserve
Analysis: Identify tool and techniques to use, Process the data and Interpret analysis results
Documentation: Documentation of the crime scene along with photographing and crime scene mapping
Presentation[2]: Process of summarization and explanation of conclusions is done with the help to gather facts
TYPES OF DIGITAL FORENSICS
Disk Forensics
Network Forensics
Wireless Forensics
Database Forensics
Malware Forensics
Email Forensics
Memory Forensics
Mobile Forensics
Electronic security system refers to any equipment that would perform security operations like surveillance, access control, alarming or an intrusion control to a facility or a neighbourhood which uses power from mains and also an influence backup sort of a battery, etc. It also includes several operations like an electrical, mechanical gear. The determination of a type of security system is purely based on the area to be protected and its threats.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer Forensics
Computer forensics has become important for litigation. Computers became a crucial part of your lives. This doesn't exclude criminals who have the technical skills of hacking into network systems. Electronic evidence has played a task in court but obtaining it is often difficult.
There are problems with authenticity concerned with this sort of evidence. Nonetheless, it is still used today with the assistance of legal standards to form them admissible in court. Computer forensics is useful but it also has disadvantages.
Computers are the most dominant form of technology. It has been utilized for sort of purposes which has made digital and electronic evidence important. However, there are still setbacks to this field.[3]
Pros and Cons of digital forensics
The exchange of data is happening every day over the web. Although this might be convenient for us, it also can pose as a chance for criminals. Phishing, corporate fraud, property disputes, theft, breach of contract and asset recovery are several situations wherein computer forensics are often used. Apart from the technical aspect, legal issues also are involved. Computer forensic analysts make their investigation in such a way that the electronic evidence is going to be admissible in court.
There are advantages and drawbacks when it involves computer forensics. This field is comparatively new and criminal matters usually addressed physical shreds of evidence. This makes electronic evidence something very new. Fortunately, it's been a helpful tool wherein important data needed for a case that has been lost, deleted or damaged are often retrieved.
Computer forensics’ main advantage is its ability to look at and analyze a mountain of knowledge quickly and efficiently. They can search keywords during a disk drive in several languages which is useful since cybercrimes can easily cross borders through the web.
Valuable data that has been lost and deleted by offenders are often retrieved which becomes substantial evidence in court. Legal professionals are ready to produce data in court that were previously impossible.
The first setback when using electronic or digital evidence is making it admissible in court. Data can be easily modified. The analyst must be able to completely suits standards of evidence required within the court of law. The computer forensic analyst must show that the info has tampered with.
His or her investigation must even be fully documented and accounted for. Computer forensics must also be the training of legal standard procedures when handling evidence.
The main disadvantage is the cost of when retrieving data. Computer forensic experts hire per hour. Analysis and reporting of knowledge can take as long as 15 hours but it'll also depend upon the character of the case. Another one is that when retrieving data, the analyst may inadvertently disclose privilege documents.[4]
Legal practitioners involved in the case must even know about computer forensics. If not they're going to not be ready to cross-question a witness. This also applies to the judge, solicitors and barristers. Computer forensics remains fairly new and a few might not know it. The analyst must be ready to communicate his findings in a way that everybody will understand.
The forensic examination of electronic systems has undoubtedly been an enormous success within the identification of cyber and computer-assisted crime. Organizations are placing increasing importance on the need to be equipped with appropriate incident management capabilities to handle misuse of systems. Computer forensics is an invaluable tool in the process.
The domain of computer forensics has grown considerably within the last decade. Driven by industry, the focus was initially placed upon developing tools and techniques to help within the application of the technology. In more recent years, an increasing volume of educational research is being produced exploring various new approaches to obtaining forensic evidence.[5]
Case Laws
Matt Baker-2010
Kriner Lusha-2009
Larry Jo Thomas-2016
Mikayla Munn-2016
Ross Compton-2017: Ross Compton from Middletown, Ohio, was convicted on the grounds of aggravated arson and insurance fraud of his Court Donegal house. The incident cost him $4 millions in damage. When Ross submitted fake medical certificates describing his heart illness, the data from his pacemaker served as evidence before the court of law. The data collected from pacemaker included his heart rate, pacer demand, and heart rhythms which helped prove arson and insurance fraud.[6]
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_forensics
[2]https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/digital-forensics-in-information-security/
[3]https://sentreesystems.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-computer-forensics/
[4]https://sentreesystems.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-computer-forensics/
[5]https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/computer-forensics-a/9781849281607/Text/backmatter01.html
[6]https://www.journal-news.com/news/arson-suspect-unique-case-featuring-pacemaker-data-back-custody/dn6JyzsOemZovpayJMZLNJ/