By Donald Davis


As technology continues to take the world by storm in every facet of everyday life, so do the new theft techniques deployed by fraudsters. Today, fraud is highly digital, with computer networks serving as conduits for bank robberies and identity theft. Investigators usually undertake computer forensic investigation to bring evidence of crime to light.

Most people assume that once a person presses the delete key on a PC, the deleted data becomes irretrievable. For many newbie cyber criminals, this may be contrived as lost evidence. However, this is certainly not the case.

This is because upon deletion, data does not entirely get wiped out from memory. The delete key simply instructs the PC to free up the already occupied space. It does this by shifting the data to a hidden register in memory. This essentially means the deleted data can still be rebuilt using custom software and by following a set of instructions.

A significant part of the work done by a forensic investigator is checking hard drives. This happens quite regularly in law enforcement agencies. The results generated after auditing a hard drive may bring to light evidence of crimes such as fraud, which in effect is the greatest contributor of online crime.

Contrary to common perception, there are other types of digital crimes besides fraud. A notable one is child pornography. A simple analysis of a hard drive can also help an investigator prove whether a suspected sex offender is actually guilty of his crimes.

Forensic investigations also play a big role in promoting transparency in financial aspects of the corporate sector. In some companies, rogue employees occasionally alter their accounting software with a view to defrauding the tax authorities. System audits usually help uncover foul play in such situations.

In this case, auditing may simply be a matter of comparing original data with what is in the accounting software. In large companies, this often takes months due to the vast amounts of data to be retrieved and compared. This notwithstanding, the results can always be counted on for truthfulness.

IT professionals majoring in forensics often get called to appear as expert witnesses during court proceedings. This is because jurors usually require a detailed account of how a crime was committed before passing judgment. This field is promising for any individual who would love to venture into it.

One crime that is easy to solve through this sort of work is PC theft. Every PC has data that uniquely identifies it with a buyer. Stolen computers are usually resold with this data wiped out. Through data reconstruction, law enforcement authorities can easily tell whether a stolen PC belongs to the person who has been caught with it.

This field is quickly becoming the best arsenal that the police have in their fight against cyber crime. If you have a desire to become an investigator, you might want to take a technology related course such as computer science. A certificate in forensics may also come in handy.




About the Author:



Axact

Money Making

I am passionate about educating university students about money and careers, and have been doing so since 2007. I see the same confusion and mistakes being replicated every year. The way I help is through Save the Student. I'm always on the look out for new contributors, so get in touch if you're wanting to get involved! Aside from the site, my main interests are travelling, writing, photography, webdesign, sailing, football and cycling.

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