Computer Forensic Investigations

How Computer Forensic Investigations Can Reveal Hidden Data

Computer forensic investigations can be used to uncover data which is hidden within the storage systems of personal and business computers. This is a completely separate science from the usual forensics applied to human body parts and the evidence they leave behind. Finding a hair or a fingerprint at the scene of the crime can be enough to lead police to the discovery of the perpetrator of a crime, and many cases have been solved using these techniques. There is an overlap, of course, in that conventional forensics can help to identify the people who have used a certain computer.

The techniques used in computer forensics investigations are also used with other electronic devices which are used to store information. Any careless use of a computer or electronic storage system can leave incriminating evidence behind for intrepid investigators. This evidence can including evidence of actual crimes themselves, including stored pornography and images of sexual crimes. It can also be evidence which can be combined with other evidence to prove something conclusive, such as a meeting with a known criminal.

These computer forensics investigations are possible due to the way that data is stored on, and erased from, digital storage systems. On any Windows based system, a file is stored in a certain part of the computer hard drive memory, and is indicated by a file path. When that file is deleted, it goes to the system Recycle Bin, from where it can still be restored to its original location. No actual movement of the file takes place, instead indicators which point to the file are moved.

When the Recycle Bin is emptied, the file is apparently gone forever. All that happens in reality, though, is that the indicators to the file are removed, leaving no visible evidence of it. The bytes of memory which contain the data will not change until that data is overwritten by the storage of another file. Until that time, software can directly access the part of memory where the old data is stored, giving access to the information which the criminal believes has been deleted.

A similar system of computer forensic investigations can be used with other digital storage devices. These include digital cameras, where images and parts of images can be found in the memory after they have apparently been erased, and cell phones, which can hold all kinds of data of interest to an investigator. It is possible that entire lists of calls, missed calls and sent messages can be retrieved, allowing the investigator to put together not only a detailed list of movements for the potential criminal, but also an entire list of possible associates. All it takes is analysis of the cell phone memory using standard computer forensic investigations.

 

 

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