Changes in technology continue to take place at a brisk pace, and it paved the way for cyber criminals or hackers to come up with new advanced programming tools and software to deceive individuals or organizations. And, every organization is striving hard to safeguard themselves against cyber attacks as there is a rise in the number of such cases every year.
What is Cyber Crime?
It is an offence committed using a computer or its resources such as the internet, computer network, chat rooms, emails, etc., to cause severe damage or harm to an entity or an individual person willfully.
There are different methods of attacks such as social engineering, virus, trojan horses, worms, key loggers, IP Spoofing, mail bombing, cross-site scripting, spoofing, etc. Thus, it is important for cyber crime investigators to update themselves with the latest technologies and skills.
Cyber crime investigation can be defined as steps taken to identify the crime and gather enough evidence to report the crime. It also includes a regular inspection to avoid such menace in the future. The main role of investigators is securing the crime scene, collecting the evidence or documents and labelling documents for further examination.
Collection of evidence plays a crucial role in the investigation, especially digital evidence like smart cards, dongles, biometric scanners, digital cameras, hard drives, servers, scanners CD and DVD drives, facsimile machines, copiers, etc. Enough care must be taken to avoid the manipulation of these electronic devices.
The investigation also includes identifying the source of unauthorised access, intrusion information, recovering wiped out passwords or data or encrypted files, identifying IP addresses & servers, detecting keywords, etc.
An investigation is done using legal standard operating procedures, protocols, rational and logic techniques. The process of investigation also involves testing the existing security systems and updating them if there exist any flaws in the software application.
Investigators take regular notes for proper documentation of the technical data or subject matters. These notes are used to prepare a report that is presented in the court. The report also comprises of written or verbal statements of technical persons, engineers, managers, witnesses, etc., which come in handy during prosecution and adjudication of the forensic crime. The report also serves as a piece of evidence in drawing insightful conclusions.
In the coming years, we can see expect a greater rise in the cyber crime rate, and it would be really tough for countries across the globe to tackle the issue. The world needs to develop and train enough IT personnel in the field to keep such things at bay.
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