Monday, 22 October 2018

The Uses And Applications Of Digital Forensics

By Christine Smith


It would be inconvenient, if not impossible, to function in this modern society without some or other form of technology. It is a small wonder, then, that these gizmos often wend their way into the little nooks and spaces of our lives, hounding us all the way to the courtrooms. That will be an opportune sphere of influence for digital forensics new york.

Breaches, violence, transgressions, and crimes are a matter of course in a densely populated melting pot of societies. If evidence and counter evidence abound and cancel each other out, a court case may become convoluted to a boiling point. Circumstantial evidence, eyewitness accounts, and even Holmes like detective deductions still have their pitfalls.

In bygone days, the usual establishers of guilt were eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidences. Those can be problematic in more ways than one. With the advent of technology, however, we found ourselves inundated by seemingly impregnable evidences in the form of metadata, video footages, audio recordings, and incriminating files and communications, and suddenly, the testimony seemed like a clincher. After all, it would be hard to belie what is seen and said in videos and audios.

Not so. And this is where digital forensics comes in. This branch of forensic science deals with the investigation of potential evidence found in digital gizmos. Under its ambit are devices like computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, network devices, storage media, and some such. The evidence gleaned is then used to prove or disprove some sort of assumption forwarded in court.

Computers are the mainstays in this type of litigation, but occasionally, other applications also come into play. There are network investigations that aim to investigate proponents of security leaks and breaches and the sources of malware like viruses, worms, et cetera. Evidence might also have to be recovered from cell phones, SIM cards, GPS apps, and similar ways and means, which come under the turf of mobile services. There is also image, video, and audio forensics that analyze metadata in order to establish authenticity.

There are more or less five steps in the digital forensic process. First off, the investigator would have to identify potential sources, locations, and custodians of relevant data. If found, these must be preserved and placed in a special legal hold so that they might not be tampered and modified. After which, important evidence has be collected, that is, collated and organized in an organized format. The last step is to present the resultant conclusions in court.

If you want to work in this field, be prepared for a lot of elbow grease. Aside from the training, you would also have to have skills, either innate or practiced, that would serve you well in the nitty gritty of the job. Of course, there has to be computer and technological knowhow, even in esoteric areas like cyber security. You must also possess certain analytical, observation, and organizational skills.

These forensics experts can be found in a variety of settings. They are found in government agencies, especially in investigative bureaus and police departments. Private corporations also have a battalion of examiners to keep their computer systems and security topnotch. Law firms would also have a leverage if they contract with these nifty investigators.

We are not yet in the terminus of the information and technological revolution. Thus, it will be axiomatic to say that digital forensics will only grow in significance and importance. Its methodologies, techniques, skill sets, and successes would do well to grow with it.




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