Data Forensics
The number of crimes involving electronic data is sky-rocketing these days, particularly with the immense preponderance of computers and other digital media in our lives. Thus, only data forensics experts can search computers for electronic evidence, make digital investigations, recover lost data and provide technical expertise. To count only a few of the judicial cases for which data forensics is useful, we ought to mention breach of contract, intellectual property theft, discrimination, sexual harassment and so on. Therefore, it is not that difficult to understand why data forensics is so important in the legal system.
A normal type of computer investigation cannot detect or extract bits of information remained after deletion. Data forensics will normally examine files that are hidden, deleted or even discarded, as well as fragments or file left-overs. Although there are lots of challenges when trying to recover data or to identify the criminal process, this search for the needle in the haystack is pretty successful. What is the relevance of such evidence for legal cases? Well, practice has already proved it that even the course of a trial could be changed by the retrieval of deleted e-mail messages for instance.
The challenges that data forensics expert have to face are enormous. The applications are indeed far-reaching, but the work to extract digital evidence is strict and exhausting. Sometimes the extractor has difficulties in getting to the information that is buried too deep in the electronic system, or too exposed to destruction. Moreover, for a successful data collection, data forensics has to protect the extracted elements by duplication so that the information is preserved and not altered and spoiled during the process. Great caution, strict standards and lots of skills are required for each of these steps and only the best in the field can succeed.
When a criminal act involving digital systems is detected, the best way of action is not to address the other party and ask for a preservation of computer records, but rather a surgical approach by an expert in data forensics. This will reduce the costs of data collection and will make info recovery more likely. Besides computers, there are other electronic storage devices that can be the target of criminal activity, and data forensics also deal with hacked USB devices, DVDs or voice mail systems. Memory hard drives are now incorporated even in fax and photocopy machines so that many of the documents can be recovered afterwards.