Computer Forensics
Just as most financial transactions are carried out on computer, and most business accounts managed on computers, so most financial frauds are carried out using computers.
Even if computers are not used to carry out a fraud directly, they can be used to plan and co-ordinate the fraud, and to disburse and launder funds afterwards. Traces of all this activity can be found on computers if you know where to look. Investigation of computer fraud and intellectual property (IP) theft is a growing problem.
| Computer Forensics for Professionals | Litigation Support | Detection of Inappropriate Computer Use |
| Data Analysis | Security Advice | Electronic Discovery |
Computer forensics is the process of recovering and analysing deleted, cached and hidden data from all IT equipment. We can analyse a range of computer devices from mainframes to PDAs, mobile phones to server computers and laptop/desktop computers. We can recover:
- Company and web emails
- Websites browsed
- Internet chat conversations
- Mobile phone text (SMS) messages
- Internet search terms and searches
- Graphics files
- Hidden/deleted documents and files
- Damaged or corrupt documents and files
- Password protected documents
- Many encrypted files
Computer forensic technology is not just restricted to examining computer workstations, laptops and servers. It can also be used to analyse:
- Archive storage on tapes, CDs, DVDs and network storage devices
- Mobile phones for text messages, call details, camera phone images and stored contact details
- PDAs and portable email devices for emails and text messages, call records, address books and stored documents
- Portable storage media such as USB pens and external drives
- Media players and iPods
- Digital cameras
- Physical access control devices (CCTV, swipe card locks)
- Digitally recorded phone records
- Smart cards
The information computer forensics provides can help you to be proactive in the handling of an incident instead of a slow reactive process. It helps you to take control of events, allowing you to minimise damage to reputation and revenues, and helps you to recover losses. Where necessary it can greatly increase the chance of successful prosecutions, and will at the very least lessen your legal exposure.
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of our ERS team with any queries you might have.