The Digital Forensic Expert is a fundamental professional in the investigations of criminal actions, whether they are committed in the virtual or physical world.
Today, computers and mobile devices are great sources of data and information related to these crimes.
In the last decades, the internet has spread and consolidated around the world, this deepened even more from the explosion of smartphones.
We spend a large part of our days connected, so it is possible to say that our devices know more about us than we do ourselves. And this fact is very evident to criminals.
It happens that when we are in the digital environment, it is very difficult not to leave any trace of our actions.
Even a damaged cell phone can have its data recovered, for example, messages that have been deleted from the device by the owner a long time ago.
The same logic applies to invasions, sending phishing, kidnapping devices, among other common practices of digital crimes.
In these cases, many times the Digital Forensic Expert is the only means to try to locate the culprits.
What Digital Crimes Can a Digital Forensic Expert Help Solve?
It is common throughout human history that innovations and technologies developed with the common good in mind are used by some people to obtain their own benefit from criminal practices, and with information technology, it was no different.
The internet, this gigantic worldwide network of computers, soon became a fertile environment for malicious users, who saw in the network an entry door to computers and systems of others, as well as an almost infinite menu of potential victims from all over the world that can be approached from anywhere.
The reality is that the web is a battlefield.
This battlefield may even seem silent to most people, but it boils daily with clashes between developers and criminals seeking gaps and vulnerabilities so that their attacks and blows are successful.
Not every digital criminal, however, acts as a hacker or seeks financial realization through crimes committed on the internet.
Types of criminal practices:
- Slander,
- Defamation,
- Injury,
- Racism,
- Homophobia,
- Persecution,
- Extortion,
- among others,
Are possible criminal practices that have found fertile ground on the web, largely due to the feeling of anonymity that many users still feel on the network.
These types of criminal practices, when carried out using devices connected to the internet, are also considered Digital Crimes.
Thus, the work of a Digital Forensic Expert is fundamental in the investigation process of these cases.
He is the professional capable of producing evidence with legal value that guides the investigation.
How Does a Digital Forensic Expert Act in Solving Crimes?
Forensic computing seeks clues that cannot be seen with the naked eye and reconstructs facts following established norms and standards aiming to produce evidence with legal value in the virtual environment.
Its main objective is the acquisition, identification, extraction, and analysis of data that is in electronic formats or stored on devices and computational media, aiming to prove illicit acts that occurred in the digital environment as well as their perpetrators.
Firstly, all electronic means and devices linked to the illicit act and its suspects to be examined are listed. After this survey, they are collected and sealed to prevent their data and information from being tampered with.
After this process, only the Digital Forensic Expert has access to the devices, performing the necessary scanning actions to find and extract data relevant to the case, including those that have been deleted at some point.
Once this scanning and survey are done, the data found are analyzed, and it is the Expert’s role to prepare an opinion with the facts and evidence found during the forensic examination. This document can be presented for both accusation and defense of the accused.
Thus, forensic computing and the digital expert are today the greatest allies of investigation and justice, producing evidence of illicit acts used or facilitated by the digital environment, which can only be carried out by specialists who know this world.
Want to know more about forensic computing and the work of the digital expert? Keep following our blog and follow our social media pages!
See you next time!
