An Introduction to Computer Forensics
Was Facebook hacked? Is your cell phone spying on you? These are just some of the questions that can be answered by computer forensics technology. What is computer forensics technology? Although different from the physical forensics used in the Fox TV show Bones, computer forensics does bear some similarities to physical crime scene investigation. Computer forensics is used to explain the current state of a computer system, storage medium (such as a CD-ROM), an electronic document (like an email message or JPEG image) or even a sequence of packets moving over a computer network. Companies providing forensic data recovery can provide an unbiased, independent analysis of data as well as expert witnesses. Evidence procured through electronic discovery can be utilized in legal cases such as the Devonni Benton – Jasmine Lynn murder.
Computer forensics analysis can uncover data from the following:
● Cell phones:
● Text messages
● Inbound and outbound call logs
● Pictures and photographs
● Calendars
● Contacts
● Deleted messages
● Dates and times
● Computers:
● Trade secrets misappropriation
● Copyright issues
● Trademark issues
● Document Authentication
● Email Authentication
● Email analysis
● Criminal cases
● Internet activity
The lifecycle of electronic discovery includes evidence collection, filtering, coding and indexing and computer forensics analysis, cell phone forensics, online document review and production. The computer forensics approach—recovering deleted files and documents—can provide a far deeper insight into human activity on a computer or cell phone than some might know. This type of technology is just what you need on your side in the event a hacker tries to steal your identity.