What Are the Common Situations in Which Computer Forensics Are Used?
Computer forensics plays a vital role in recovering and revealing the hidden clues. A very famous case is the BTK Killer where investigators had assisted the police to discover a serial killer, Dennis Rader, through a floppy disk that Dennis sent to the police. Investigators found within the documents implicated an author name "Dennis" at "Christ Lutheran Church". This evidence helped to lead to the serial killer's arrest. Sound like watching CSI? Yes, it is.
By now, you should realise how wide the scope of work can be. Let's us look at some of the common situations in which it is used:
1) Unauthorised disclosure of corporate data (by accident or design)
There's always a chance that employees will disclose corporate data without authorisation to third parties or competitors. The chance increases when employees are unhappy, dissatisfied, or being fired. As corporate information such as business plans, customers database and product roadmaps are private and confidential, a computer forensics is needed to assist in protecting and lock down the potential leak of sensitive data. If such incident happens, he will help to uncover the person responsible.
2) Criminal fraud
The above BTK Killer case best describes how computer forensics is used in assisting criminal fraud uncovering. As you Google, you will come across how computer forensics had helped in uncovering evidence in the prosecution in high-profile murder cases as information technology had become a necessity in everyone's daily life irrespective of what profession you are in, whether legal or illegal. Apart from that, a knowledgeable and skilful investigator plays a key role in Court when presenting digital evidence for legal proceedings as these are not something which many of us can understand.
Other common situations include employee internet abuse, damage assessment and analysis, industrial spying, and other more general criminal cases. All these are where wrong-doings and crimes are committed through computers and digital storage media. These are also where evidences are found by computer forensics investigators.
10 Key Responsibilities of Computer Forensics
A computer forensics' job involves conducting investigations, data recovery, and electronic discovery. As one, you need to possess solid foundation of technical experience and expertise, possess strong communication skills and ability to meet individual's expectations. The job scope is very wide. Let's look at 10 of the key responsibilities as below.
1. Plan, organize, conduct, and manage a variety of computer forensic examination activities such as conducting live analysis on networks, and multiple platforms.
2. Provide advices on related technical issues to enhance forensic engagements.
3. Provide computer forensic services such digital evidence preservation, analysis, data recovery, tape recovery, electronic mail extraction, database examination and etc.
4. Manage and perform comprehensive technical analyses and interpret of computer-related evidence such as e-mail, accounting software, various databases, and information stored on electronic devices.
5. Ensure that evidence collection methods are conducted, managed, and archived in a manner consistent to maintain preservation and protection of data and evidence.
6. Ensure all lab hardware and software are verified and validated as required by the State Law.
7. Evaluate and troubleshoot a variety of technical issues including hardware and software troubleshooting.
8. Conduct security assessments, penetration testing, and ethical hacking and conduct exams on compromised computers and servers.
9. Work according to budget by completing it within the timeframe.
10. Perform other job-related duties as necessary such as demonstrate effective communication and work closely with partners, managers, staff and clients.
The list goes on.
It is worth mentioning that as a computer forensics, you are expected to have knowledge and experience in operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh, Linux or UNIX, and DOS. Besides, you must possess good writing and communication skills. Last but not least, as a result of the multi-tasking, the ability of managing it is critical. Hence, critical thinking, problem solving and the ability to endure long working hours is vital.
Computer Software
Computer PC software is so called in contrast to computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. Computer software is held in the storage of computers for a very specific purpose and performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as an input to another piece of software. PC software is described as the information processed by the systems. Computer PC software is a major form of intellectual property, both from the standpoint of the intellectual creativity required to produce it and the practical and commercial value of good products.
Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Software license gives the user the right to use the software in the licensed environment, some software comes with the license when purchased off the shelf, or OEM license when bundled with hardware. Software may also databases, and computer games. Software can help a small business correspond with its customers, keep track of inventory and even answer the phone and process orders.
Computer software, consisting of programs, enables a computer to perform specific tasks, as opposed to its physical components (hardware) which can only do the tasks they are mechanically designed for. Computer software has to be "loaded" into the computer's storage (such as a hard drive, memory, or RAM). Computers operate by executing the computer program. Computer software, a general term used for computer programs and data. Computer PC software can be classified into two types:Systems software includes basic input-output systems, device drivers etc. Computer users can also create their own computer software, including spreadsheet templates, word processor macros etc.
Copyright in software may be assigned or licensed to others. Copyright and other intellectual property laws protect software created, posted and traded on the Internet. Copyright protection can be claimed without registration or the deposit of copies with the Copyright Office. Copyright law does not protect the ideas and functional elements of software, as does patent law.
System software helps run the computer hardware and computer system. System software enables the users to run computer hardware and computer system including operating system, device drivers, diagnostic tools, servers, windowing systems and some more. Computer software is protected as intellectual property under the US copyright system. "Bundled" software is canned software that is sold with hardware and does not have a separately stated price, and can include operating systems such as DOS, UNIX, OS-2, or System 6. Because embedded software is part of the computer system, machinery, or other equipment, it has no separate acquisition cost and shall not be separately valued apart from the computer system, machinery, or other equipment in which it is housed.
Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs and software using different programming languages in a more convenient way. Programs may be called by one to many other programs; programs may call zero to many other programs. Program and library The term "software" was first used in A program may not be sufficiently this sense by John W. Programs may be software, programming software and called by one to many other programs; application software, although the programs may call zero to many other distinction is arbitrary, and often programs. Programming software provides some useful tools like text editor, compiler, interpreter, linker and debugger etc.
Computer software is big business with millions of research dollars at stake. Computer software is a set of directions or instructions that exist in the form of machine-readable or human-readable code, is recorded on physical or electronic medium and directs the operation of a computer system or other machinery and/or equipment. Computer software is covered by copyright and cannot be used unless it has been legally obtained. Computer software is protected under the federal copyright law which states that, "Users may not make a copy of a piece of software for any other reason than as an archival back-up without permission of the copyright holder.
Computer Repairs Jobs – Roles and Career Choices
Anybody who has ever tinkered around with a PC has probably considered what computer repairs jobs they would be capable of doing. This article takes a look at the spectrum of role and career paths open to anyone interested in computing.
Technicians working in computer maintenance and repairs normally start in two specific types of roles:
(a) computer service or
(b) computer support. Computer servicing requires deep technical knowledge of products and computer systems in order to manually install and repair various systems (PCs, mainframes, servers, faxes, etc).
By contrast, computer support is more often a role where the individual does not manually repair technologies. Instead, the role is traditionally providing support via email/chat/phone to customers relating to specific products or systems.
Another way to consider these roles is as field or bench technicians based on whether the PC repairs are done on or off client site.
These job titles do not however specify the technologies that the individual specializes is. Computer repairs jobs can relate to high-end systems for businesses (servers, mainframes, networking) and home users (PC repairs, setting up broadband, data recovery) and technicians start with broad training which facilitates taking either path.
The career path can therefore follow various strands with computer repairs jobs in small local PC repair shops or consultancy houses being the normal starting grounds for most technicians. Both of these company types have the benefit of giving the technician exposure to a variety of technology, ongoing training and opportunities for gaining deep expertise.
As with many job types, the potential is always there to work for yourself and setting up your own business doing computer repairs jobs for local businesses and individuals is within the grasp of most technicians so long as they have enough experience under their belt. This role also provides the flexibility to work in computer repair training.
Slow Computer Performance – Registry Errors Are Slowing Your Pc Down and You Can Fix it
Many are aware that registry cleaners maintain their computers in working order. Now, the question isn't so much what a registry cleaner can do, but which windows registry cleaner is best for your computer.
This is not such an easy question to answer, as there are multiple considerations. Prior to determining which cleaner works best for you you need to know exactly what the registry is and what it is for.
A windows computers registry is the part of the PC that windows uses a library for all the information about your computer. It's a gigantic database containing all information on settings and other information within your windows computer. This is the windows component windows uses constantly for information on operating programs and all the hardware. The registry also stores all settings necessary to run all software.
For such a crucial part of a PC, registries are open to errors. Numerous programs do not uninstall properly, leaving unnecessary settings on the registry, over time, clogging it up with useless data or partial files.
This results in slow computer performance as it will take more time to find the proper information for relevant programs. In turn, this can cause errors, general sluggishness, and choppy PC performance. The end game of all of this is that ultimately, you can cause serious errors with your PC and registry.
once this happens your computer will:
#1 Slow down.
#2 Crash when running specific programs with corrupt registry entries.
#3 freeze frequently.
#4 Display the blue screen of death.
#5 Shot down and restart when you are in the middle of something.
Though these potential problems are serious, the solution is simple: Run a registry cleaner. This software will isolate and remove all invalid or empty files that clutter your system. As always, the key to finding quality is proper research.
You will want a registry cleaner that can:
* Eliminate all empty, corrupt or invalid files or data.
* Find and permanently delete viruses and malware hiding in the registry.
* Compress the windows registry, in turn speeding up windows.
After finding a cleaner that fills these requirements, you should run a registry scan. Crucially important in preventing problems, you should run this procedure frequently. Generally, a bi-weekly scanning schedule will keep your system running properly.
Computer Crash Fix – How to Fix Computer Crashes Quickly & Easily
Computer crashes are not only one of the most annoying problems that Windows computers can face, but also one of the most damaging. Unfortunately, not many people know how to fix these common problems, and often end up buying a new system or paying for expensive technical support to resolve it. If you want to make your PC run smoothly again, then the good news is that this tutorial is about to show you a simple fix which will stop the crashes which will prevent your computer from running well. Here's what to do...
If you want to stop a computer from crashing, you first need to be able to fix the problems which cause the crashes in the first place. A computer "crash" is simply what happens when your computer is unable to proceed with the tasks / commands that you've provided for it - leading your system to just stop working and either restart, or just hang. Crashes can occur for any number of reasons, but can be fixed by using a simple trick which computer technicians like to use.
The "trick" to fixing a computer that crashes is actually very simple. The problem is that many Windows computers end up over-using the "registry" of their system. The registry is a database which stores all the files & settings which Windows needs in order to be able to run. This part of your PC is actually what Windows uses to help it "remember" many of the things you users take for granted - with everything from your desktop wallpaper, latest emails and even your stored passwords being kept inside this database. Although the registry is one of the most important parts of your system, it's still one of the biggest causes of problems because of the way in which it's continually being over-used by Windows.
The issue is that since so many settings are open at once (Windows needs to read 100's each time you use your PC), this system often gets confused and corrupts many of them. This causes these vital settings to be unreadable, which leads your computer to take much longer to process them the next time it needs to. This not only makes Windows a lot slower, but also causes your PC to crash more often - as it's unable to read the registry settings it needs to run.
Fortunately, you can repair this problem by using a registry cleaner application. These programs are highly effective, as they are able to scan through your PC and fix the various errors which often cause your system to crash. You can use a registry cleaner regardless of whether you're a beginner or a seasoned computer veteran, and it will repair the problems that are causing Windows to crash. These programs can be downloaded from the Internet and are very easy to use.
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