Elizabeth Sheldon is a director of Evidence Talks, One of the most highly regarded computer forensics consultancies in the UK, Evidence Talks lead the way with unique solutions to some of the problems faced by industry today. More information visit- evidencetalks.com
The key role of computer forensics is the protection, adducing and presentation of evidence, in that order. In all abuse cases, protection of the evidence is both critical and central to the organisations ability to investigate and take action against the abuser.
Once abuse is suspected it is important to assess the likely route of action. One of the first decisions to make is to determine the nature of the abuse and whether the investigation will result in criminal, civil or internal disciplinary action.
If the nature of the abuse warrants either of the first two options, protection of all evidence is of utmost importance as, frequently, the defences best case is based on the admissibility of computer based evidence. Even when internal disciplinary action is being taken, it may pay to protect the evidence to the same degree as in a criminal or civil cases as an industrial tribunal may consider the employers case more favourably if proper evidential practices have been observed.
What exactly does "protecting the evidence" mean?
Let us assume that an employee is suspected of downloading illegal pornography (the definition of what is "legal" pornography would take more space to discuss than this article has!) from the internet. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is far from uncommon and can leave an organisation legally culpable courtesy of the fact that a company and its officers hold a vicarious responsibility for the deeds and actions of its employees.
Most organisations would take one of two possible actions. Either a member of the security team would be tasked with making a backup of the users hard disk which would then be restored onto a blank drive. Or the users computer would be taken away by the support department where one of the technicians would be asked to search the disk for image files and print them off.
Unfortunately, both these actions will harm the organisations ability to
a) defend itself against potential legal action and
b) invalidate the submission of any evidence against the user which may have been present on the users computer.
Whilst the above actions would appear on the surface to be adequate methods of determining the presence of incriminating evidence, they are both fatally flawed in their execution.
- Related Articles
- Related Q&A
- Obtaining Clues by Using Handled Digital Forensics
- Digital Forensics for Private Investigators
- Computer Forensics Expert - An Ideal Career Option
- Dealing With Computer Abuse Without Digging Bigger Holes!
- An Introduction to Computer Forensics
- Divorce and Computer Evidence
- Computer Forensics - a Brief Introduction
- Computer Forensics as a Way of Investigation
Clean System Junks - You Can Do it
By: Amy Zhou | 25/12/2009Your computer may contain a lot of junk files after being used years. This may also come with the reduction of the available disk space of your computer system. You need to clean the system junk files in order to get your computer run faster.
What is the usage of DVD in the market?
By: John Milton | 24/12/2009Today dvd is quite popular among consumers because of modern technology usage who is reshaping its relaibility in the market.
3 Simple Steps to Make your Computer Faster - How to Speed Up your Computer?
By: Amy Zhou | 23/12/2009Slow computer speed must have made you frustrated and annoying sometimes. Is there a simple way to speed up your computer speed? The answer is yes definitely. Though you are not an advanced PC users, you can always maintain your computer and have a fast PC performance, once you follow the three steps mentioned to take good care of your computer. Note them down right now, you can also have a fast computer always.
Let’s hear it about Cell phone skins
By: BhratBrij | 23/12/2009There are plenty of places on the Internet where you can get the cell phone skins of your choice. So, you know where to go if you are looking for custom made Blackberry Storm skins, Blackberry World skins, and Blackberry Bold skins.
Know the information about HDMI
By: Henry Miller | 21/12/2009Technically speaking then consumers should know that hdmi is a compact audio and video interface having the usage for transmitting uncompressed digital data.
How to store dell laptop batteries
By: Rainco | 09/12/2009Batteries are perishable products that start deteriorating right from the moment they leave the factory. There are simple preventive measures that battery users can apply to slow the aging process. This paper provides guidelines to reduce age-related capacity losses and how to prime new and stored batteries.
Variations Of Sonic Games Available In The Web
By: Gen Wright | 03/12/2009Loyal followers call him the Blue Blur; his creators have named him as Sonic the Hedgehog. But Sonic is forever popular. The interest in this character is only increasing day by day.
A Few Words About The Sonic Team
By: Gen Wright | 02/12/2009The Sonic Team are video game developers based in Tokyo, Japan. They were previously called by the name Sega AM8 but today the Sonic Team division based in Japan is often called G.E. Department Global Entertainment.
Top 10 Ways People Damage Evidence
By: Elizabeth Sheldo | 03/08/2009 | SecurityTurning the computer on affects the swap file and registry as well as the list of most recently used documents. Investigating emails with an email client carries a host of potential dangers. Failing to either make a forensic image of the hard drives of staff when they leave, or replace the hard drive.
Showing Your Hand
By: Elizabeth Sheldo | 10/06/2009 | Computer ForensicsHaving imaged and analysed the suspects computer disks and found the evidence all that remains is the process of presenting that evidence for use in any criminal, civil or disciplinary hearings.
Protecting The Evidence
By: Elizabeth Sheldo | 10/06/2009 | Computer ForensicsIn court cases, computer evidence can be dismissed if even the slightest doubt over it's veracity can be shown, making the process of adducing the evidence correctly vital to the success of otherwise of the case.
Dealing With Computer Abuse Without Digging Bigger Holes!
By: Elizabeth Sheldo | 10/06/2009 | Computer ForensicsExisting audit data was used, that had been collected during a licence compliance audit and the whole analysis added just 4 man days to the audit project.
Customize Your Own T-Shirt From Promopays.Ca
By: Elizabeth Sheldo | 10/06/2009 | Customer ServiceThe screen printed t-shirts available at this company are made using state of the art techniques and break through technologies to deliver the customers promotional t-shirts of their choice.