The Evolution of Tallahassee Computer Forensics

Today computer forensics has evolved and continues to evolve as technology expands.  Computer forensics is recognized today as a science and is used most often for criminal and civil cases to present relevant evidence in a court of law.  Business today rely more than ever upon digital data, as 98% of all data today is stored electronically over the old days of using paper documents, file folders, and file cabinets to store businesses information. 

The digital age will continue to evolve, as demand for computer forensic experts is continuously in high demand. This is especially due to the fact that the work required by computer forensic experts continues to become more complex and specialized, especially due to many types of electronic devices being used today for creating, storing and sharing electronic information.  Just imagine how different the electronic age is today over one decade ago.  Today businesses are using mobile devices and small tablets for creating and accessing digital data. 

This article will discuss the evolution of computer forensics and how it is has changed since it started, as well as how it continues to evolve.  Additionally, this article will discuss not only about responsive computer forensics, which is whenever a computer forensic specialist team is called out to perform investigative work, but also discuss how businesses can use computer forensic experts proactively, meaning they are used to help to protect their electronically stored information, which can help decrease the likelihood of them needing a forensic team to conduct an investigation, as well as help make potential future investigations more simplistic.

Exactly what is Computer Forensics?

Computer forensics is simply one of the many sciences used today in the field of forensics.  Forensics in its most general term relates to the techniques that are used with the connection of detecting any type of criminal activity or evidence to help support a civil lawsuit.  Within the criminal law departments, they often refer to finding evidence that is extremely relevant as be the  “the smoking gun.”  This can also be true with finding digital evidence by utilizing computer forensic techniques.  It is often related towards finding a “digital fingerprint”  whenever Tallahassee Computer Forensics are able to find intangible evidence that can be undisputed in a court of law.

Today there are many types of forensic sciences, including forensic chemistry, DNA analysis, entomology, to name a few.  Therefore, computer forensics is simply a small subdivision of the many types of computer forensics that exist today.  Even within computer forensics, there are many other smaller subdivisions, including data recovery, hacking detection and prevention, as well as digital accounting forensics to name a few.

As previous mentioned, just like any type of forensic sciences, computer forensic is also considered a science within the United States in which defined techniques and procedures are used in order to help preserve, collect and analyze evidence.  However, the science of computer forensics is consistently evolving, as technology has been and will continue to change.  Because of this, new computer forensic science techniques will continue to be created, which will be discussed later.

The Beginning of Computer Forensics

It is very hard to trace back exactly when computer forensics first started, but it is estimated that the beginning of computer forensics can be traced back to the 1970s, when computers used for businesses started to begin to evolve.  During these times, most of the cases involved financial fraud.

As the computer began to evolve, so did the laws regarding computer forensics and digital data.  During the 1980s, it began to become apparent that some cases, primarily financial crimes were often all recorded on computers. It was also during the 1980s that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), a professional organization that was developed in 1988, began researching and developing training materials on what is known today as computer forensics.  The activities they researched and trained upon included digital fraud information, as well as the various tools that were available for conducting computer forensics.  The ACFE began to govern the various techniques that computer forensics still use today.  Also in 1988, the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) was created, which also helped create what computer forensics is today.

Also during the 1980s, many new Acts were set in place, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, as well as the Computer Security Act of 1987, which deals with the security and the government of computer systems.

As time has passed, computer forensics has continuously evolved into the known forensic science that it is recognized today. This is especially true with the World Wide Web creating a wide variety of security issues in which computer crimes are most often committed today. 

What Exists Today For Computer Forensics

Computer forensics today has now become a highly demanded and recognized forensics science. It has been and will continue to evolve as technology vastly changes. Today there are many subdivisions that fall under computer forensics which will be discussed next.

E-discovery  - E discovery is the process in which an E discovery request is made that requires the one receiving the e-discovery request to identify and retrieve all relevant electronically stored information (ESI) to the opposing party. Many of the laws regulating the E discovery process were enacted in December of 2006 under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) amendments made. During the e-discovery process, the data is identified and placed on legal hold, in which it is then extracted from the computer systems and storage devices in order to be analyzed by using the known Digital forensic techniques used today.

Data Recovery - data recovery involves attempting to gain access to relevant files that have been previously deleted. It has been known that even though somebody actually deletes a file on the computer today, that the actual file itself is never deleted from the hard drive, but is only removed from being accessed from the operating system. Because of this, various software tools and techniques can be used in order to retrieve deleted files.

Computer forensics experts are often called upon in order to help retrieve deleted files and analyze them for relevant content that relates towards the investigation as evidence. Many challenges still exist today as new technologies for storing and retrieving files is continuously changing. This is especially true because the storage devices are changing with new mobile technologies, including mobile phones and tab let devices.

E-mail Forensics - Email forensics requires specialist that are capable of analyzing and retrieving emails that are relevant towards either a civil or criminal investigations.  There are many areas that email forensics need to understand including the way emails are stored and transferred, as well as the ways that they can be traced over the Internet.

Hacking and Viruses - One of the biggest problems occurring today is the widespread of viruses and hackers attempting to gain access into individuals’ computers.  This issue becomes a further issue due to the internet, as individuals can attempt to hack and spread viruses, even from outside of the United States.  Those involved with investigating hack attempts and the spreading of viruses are required to be specialized in understanding how data is transmitted over the internet today, including how to trace the hacks or viruses back to the originator.

What Continues to Change with Computer Forensics?

As previously mentioned, computer forensics continues to evolve and will continue to evolve as well.  There are many businesses out today that are continuously making new discoveries into how new mobile devices and technologies can be properly investigated for potential evidence. 

Further challenges always exist as hackers and viruses find new ways of entering home computers and servers throughout the world.  Because of the internet today, those attempting to hack computer systems continuously attempt new methods and communicate with others in how to do so on discussion boards established online. 

Because of the spread of threats that are always continuing to arise, Computer forensics is highly in demand.  It is estimated that the growth rate for the need of computer forensics is increasing by 25% every year.  Also as new technologies continue to arise on the market today, the continuous need of computer forensic experts relating towards those technologies will consciously be in demand. 

What to expect if you are Ever in Need of a Computer Forensics team

If you or your business is every in need for a forensics expert, whether for a criminal or civil lawsuit purposes, there are many available in the market today.  Large cities within the United States, including Tallahassee will have a number of Computer forensic Businesses that can probably assist you. 

Whenever seeking a computer forensic team, it is important that you communicate exactly what your needs are, and what technologies you will need for them to assist you with investigating.  Because of the wide amount of technologies on the market today, they may not be able to assist you because they do not specialize within that field of forensics.  In those circumstances, you can always do a search online through a search engine such as Google in order to help find forensics experts within that field.