In a digital forensic investigation, there are many processes that are carried out to find computer evidence that can be used in a court of law. The company that you work with will identify the evidence and act to preserve it. They will extract the evidence of document it so that it can be used to provide leverage on digital-related cases. Computer forensics is able to provide valuable information on a number of cases such as intellectual property theft, employee disputes, and industrial espionage and fraud investigations.
The evidence will be found from digital media which can be a computer network, server, computer, smart phone etc. Nowadays, we tend to keep a lot of information on our phones and it can be easy to extract it. The forensic team will inspect the digital evidence that can be found on different electric devices. Digital forensics is used to recover materials related to computers and analyse them in order to assist an on-going investigation.
They will be preserved so as to be presented as evidence in a court of law. This gives a new perspective on the motive behind the crime that has been committed and will help the investigation in uncovering the identity of the culprit. An experienced computer forensic professional will be able to ensure that the digital evidence at the site is not corrupted. They will come up with procedures that will preserve the integrity of the evidence.
When there are deleted files and other digital evidence, it can be extracted by skilled personnel and they will be able to duplicate the information. You will also be able to identify any evidence that helps the investigation quickly and understand the impact of the situation on the victim. There are several steps in executing computer forensics. The first step is the identification process where electronic media will be investigated to find out the evidence present.
The personnel will be able to find out which format the digital evidence is stored in and where it is stored. Once the evidence has been identified, the next step is its preservation. This will ensure that the digital evidence is not tampered with. The data collected will then be analysed by the investigation agents to draw various conclusions to support a crime theory. A record will be created of all visible data and the documentation will then be presented.
There are different types of computer forensics as well. Disc forensics is related to extracting information from storage media. Here, the investigators will be able to search for deleted or modified files. Wireless forensics that comes under network forensics allows investigators to collect data by combing through wireless network traffic. In network forensics, computer network traffic will be monitored and analysed to collect valuable information.
Other branches include email forensics related to the recovery of emails, malware forensics, database forensics and mobile phone forensics. There are many obstacles faced by computer forensics such as easy access to hacking tools and the increasing use of the internet. And investigating large amounts of digital storage can be a complicated process.
