Fast-Evolving Nature of Technology - Term Paper Example

INVESTIGATIVE TASK-FORCE PROPOSAL College: Introduction In modern times, the use of digital devices such as computers has infiltrated globally and this practice has become a commonality.in addition the investigators are confronted with the stiff mandate to manage volatile and mobile digital evidence that may be encoded by any user. In this light, this police department needs to create a computer forensics unit that will utterly address and overcome the inspective hurdles of a digital world and establish scientific and legal standards for digital forensic. The current units in place do not comprise the necessary procedures for the research and proper investigation of digital evidence.to develop a state of the art center that will be able to offer impeccable services. The unit will be fully equipped with a cyber-forensics laboratory which will specialize in digital evidence recovery, and which will also the facilitation of computer investigative training and development of forensic skills. The devices incorporated will be able to manage a larger volume of data faster in the course of an investigation and also uncover information that couldn’t be discovered with traditional forensic tools. Steps towards the creation of a cyber-investigative unit would be to assess the needs of the department and make a decision, to establish a legal basis in the establishment, appoint a manager for the cyber investigation unit, to staff the unit, to provide for the equipment and other resources required in the unit, to facilitate a training program for this unit and to have an action plan in developing the cyber investigative unit. As the technology is continually used to commit crimes and the numbers of such cases keeps on raising then each police department will ultimately reach a point where it will have to decide if the time is right to establish a cyber-investigative unit with forensic capabilities The cyber investigative unit will include a training department, an investigative joint task force, an analytic group, future exploration department and people responsible for collaborative data sharing. Whether the goal is to establish a full time unit or entitle individual investigators in particular areas to respond as required, prior evaluation assessment, planning and preparation are elements indispensable to success. The following is a proposal for the establishment of the specialized unit in the police department. Training The department will facilitate the provision of a training programmer to equip the new cyber investigative unit with investigators, supervisors, analysts and outside agencies. The level of training needed to become an effective professional can be lengthy, expensive and continuing. Sometimes the cyber investigative unit will be able to provide hands on training according to the national accreditation standards which will lead to a DC3 (defense cybercrime center) certification. The topics to be infiltrated to the students are; windows-based forensics, incident response intrusions in windows operating systems as well as Linux and other environments. For undercover investigations in the internet, log analysis, Macintosh forensic recovery, network data exploitation among others; niche topics will be provided. The types of training to be provided generally will be computer examination and seizure techniques, network intrusions investigations, basic and advanced forensic analysis, media analysis to support fraud, criminal or counterintelligence investigations. The computer forensics agents will be trained to accomplish forensic examinations of the seized digital storage devices such as computer hard drives, mobile phones, flash drives, Dad’s, , CDs, PDAs or tape media. Technology and computers are however radically changing and hence thus training should always be consistent to certify that the personnel have the latest technical, investigative and forensic training to rejoin to any incident involving technology. The cyber investigative unit will also provide external training to the outside law enforcement groups, the private and the public sector. This is a critical element in the unit’s commitment to boost local cooperation and interdepartmental team work. The cooperation between the unit and the private sector including the service providers, the ICT industry and other sectors is very essential in terms of safeguarding digital evidence. Budget The cyber investigative unit in the agency should be established at a central level and improved step by step in accordance to the financial resources allocated to the department. There must be a database created in the context of creation of the unit and the reporting and investigation of the particular crimes. The unit needs to allocate funds for the hiring of different personnel for instance analysts and agents who will be dedicated in the whole operation. The personnel hired should be sufficiently adequate to address the expanding volume of the submitted cases associated with the investigations there should be provided carriage means such as vans to transport the required squads having digital forensic responsibility on the particular scene. Initial set-up of the unit may be expensive with all the new material being purchased that is the sufficiently super computers, the other computer devices and basic office material. With proper accounting, operational expenses can be carefully planned. The unit should have secure storage rooms for the digital evidence provided. A state of art defense computer forensics laboratory should be established. An important prerequisite is that the government must be able to understand the nature and the impact of the dangers in cybercrimes and thus appreciate the need for a cyber-investigative unit to carry out the required investigations. This will facilitate the unit’s budget to be sizeable and thus be equipped with the necessary authority and resources. The performance of this unit will depend largely on the quality of the staff hence this part should be well invested in. Equipment The equipping of the new unit is very essential and thus must be done with minimum costs and then expand gradually according to the needs of the unit. This will take in some degree of space for the new unit which will give enough storage space for exhibits. The employees will require adequately powerful computers and to have overt and covert internet connections. The nit also needs necessary software and devices for forensically processing the submitted devices that will aptly develop applications needed to perform investigations. An essential requirement for a digital crime lab is to ensure that all the forensic tools whether hardware or software are examined and validated. In addition they should be in a secure place hence there should be surveillance equipment to monitor the security of the items. The unit should also have its database in synced with the national civilian’s database to assist them in finding matches in DNA during investigation. The unit should also have a computer incident response vehicle which will enable the police to provide particular on site responses to incidents anywhere in the state. This device (CIRV) is should be configured with laboratory equipment that is top notch that the trained personnel will use to give technical support at the crime scenes. The device will also be used in the highly sensitive investigations that involve government or business locations where networks or the other computing devices need on scene forensic examinations. The unit should also have strong computer backgrounds that will continually upgrade the worker’s skills to stay on top of the ever changing world of technology. Personnel The unit should be able to support about 40 analysts all supported by continual training and advanced examination equipment. Must be graduates of a recognized defense cyber investigations training academy law enforcement training facility (DCITA). The creation of any specialized unit will only be feasible and as successful as the skills, education and expertise of the people staffing the unit. The unit will need a forensic examiner that is certified whose major constituent in his routine duties is the examination or analysis of the digital media. The unit will be able to hire personnel that are quick to respond, collect, secure and /or preserve any the digital evidence in the particular crime scenes. These personnel should have attained the completion of the accredited certifications in networks and hardware, computer incidence response and operating systems forensics examinations. For the certification to be maintaining d the personnel will conduct examinations of digital media every 2 years to keep up with any new information and also attend a minimum of 40 hours in DCITA- approved continuing education. Among the personnel should be the computer crime investigator whose duty is to investigate all the elements of a computer crime to support the digital evidence analysis. Internal training will still be developed to ensure that the unit is up- to date and utterly competent in all the aspects of investigating. In Types of cases The cyber investigative unit lab will deal with a variety of cases. The evidence section will handle all the bits and pieces submitted to the lab for examination and/or analysis. The lab service time should be averaged approximately 33 days. Focus is in counterintelligence, criminal and fraud investigation. The role of the unit is to investigate or prosecute offences done against computer information and systems, investigating or prosecuting offences done by means of computer systems and related data and carry out all the computer forensics with respects to electronic evidence in general i.e. using or causing to be used whether directly and/or indirectly a computer system with voluntary sense to commit an offence in relation to that computer system. The unit will augment training in arising cyber technologies coupled with the subject matter proficiency in cyber related investigations vis-à-vis the following fields: commercial fraud that includes e-payment hoaxes, money laundering, counter-proliferation investigations, narcotics trafficking, illegal exports. The unit will also deal with cases related to cybercrime such as: offences committed against computer systems, offences done using the computer as a tool such as forgery or child pornography. The unit can also be involved in counter terrorism functions which may entail the detection of money laundering, carry out the explosive analysis of major terrorist incidents, carry out a forensic analysis of the computers and cell phones seized, carry out a terrorist incident analysis and eventually build a database for terrorist entities using that information. Procedures for collecting and preserving evidence The unit will provide international standards in data retention and data preservation the unit will have the intake section which provides entries/ customer’s support who will submit a laboratory request form. This will follow the extraction & imaging section which crates forensic duplicates of all the media items presented to the lab. The submitted items may range from external media and computer software’s to unique materials like GPS systems, cell phones or gaming systems. After this the materials will be taken to the MC section (Major crimes) which carries out an analysis of the digital evidence that supports any criminal investigations like fraud, crimes against persons, safety investigations or crimes against property; arson or property destruction. Another procedure detached from this will be the counterintelligence/ counterterrorism section (CI/CT) which will support investigations at all categories affecting the state security. There will be an intrusion section to conduct an inspection and analysis on computers and other devices and account for any intrusion. In preservation of evidence there will be a quality assurance section that will ensure that the laboratory standards are properly maintained and that the quality of the presented items is of priority. The personnel in the unit will use each and every mechanism available for the recovery of the digital evidence. All this will be executed using a strict chain of custody. Measures should be taken to guarantee that all the data collected is preserved and presented in an acceptable form in the judicial system. Agency collaboration A cyber investigative unit cannot be a clear-cut, standalone type of unit but requires inter-agency cooperation with the law enforcement services, ministry of justice, intelligence services, the prosecution among others. The cyber investigative unit will pool resources with other law enforcement agencies by providing them with digital forensics support. The cyber forensics unit is utilized in other agencies globally to provide expertise on strategies for the investigations tabled and to also assist the case agents by giving them ground to prepare search warrants that target seizure of digital evidence. In addition cyber forensics personnel’s are called upon to provide sophisticated elaboration in criminal trials regarding forensic evidence and thus they in great deal will support to national and local law enforcement bodies. In this vein, the unit will have the litigation support section will coordinate the court cases requests for the forensics experts to deliver testaments in court martial proceedings. With the information given to the law enforcement from this unit, they can be able to selectively identify and monitor, verify, track and suppress the growth of cybercrime gangs that are a danger to the community. The policing experience in the other part of the agency can be used as an asset in the forensic data examination. The unit can also work with the members of the public who can assist in the research and the implementation of the latest new technologies, this will aid in investigations. Conclusion Statistics indicate that an estimate of 80 percent of committed crimes today involve some sort of digital forensics that is propelled by the fast evolving nature of technology. The training and awareness for law enforcement personnel is rather inadequate not only with regards to cyber related crimes but largely also to the part of technology impact in inducing crime. Establishing such a unit must be a priority so as to bolster safety in computer use especially protecting children from sexual exploitation in a population by combating crime related to it. The putting up of a response center for incidents will be advantageous for a more detailed analysis of the evidence presented. Such crimes may greatly influence economic, social as well as other national interests. There is necessity to create a cyber-investigative unit that will protect citizens and partner with the local and state federal agencies. The unit’s increased forensic capabilities will be able to boost the activities of other police departments. The cyber investigation unit will be created with a mission to facilitate the provision of grander forensics lab services, cyber expertise training while establishing excellent standards in delivering digital forensics capabilities in the computer crimes another related crimes providing digital forensic evidence. The unit also has a primary role to provide its expertise in testimonies. the excellence will spur unit will be able to nurture a good reputation with other related agencies .it is also essential that the public is ware of such a unit so as to boost the investigative capacity of the unit. References Edd, A. & James, E.(2005). Computer crime, internet investigations and digital evidence solutions. Oxford. Oxford university press. Sunford, O. (2011). American society of crime laboratory. New York. new York Times. Gina, W. (2007) Access data championship on the department of defense cybercrime center. New York. New York free press Read More