Computer And Download Child Pornography

On 04/16/15, I received a call from Special Agent Scott Sutehall with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) who is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. I am also a member of the ICAC task force and work with HSI frequently. Agent Sutehall has worked with me on several cases and was confident with my knowledge and understanding of child exploitation cases. Agent Sutehall informed me that between 02/19/15 and 03/01/15, while acting in an undercover capacity, he utilized a law enforcement version of eMule, a client software for the eDonkey2000 (eD2k) peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network, to monitor for P2P users possessing and distributing image and video files depicting child pornography. During that time period, Agent Sutehall utilized the law enforcement version of eMule to establish connections with IP address Test and to download several files depicting child pornography from that IP address.

By performing the tasks required in this lab, many other attributes, references, and system information was gleaned that will benefit forensic efforts in the future. For this lab, the time zone of the computer has been isolated to China Standard Time, which in itself is suspicious. BHOs and add-ins were also located using registry values. Among this, there was only a reference to Bing Bar, which was identified in an earlier lab as a download performed on Jane’s computer. Moreover, this lab uncovered startup applications (UPnP.exe and SCVHhost.exe) that were identified as potentially suspicious in previous labs. Lastly, this lab allowed the student to locate USB storage devices that were connected to Jane’s system as well as the times associated with the connection and removal of the device in the system’s

1. What permissions/authorities should you have before you search Mr. Yourprop’s former Company work area, and how would you document that authority?

2. Explain, from a forensics perspective, the digital evidence found on the Anthony family computer

Dennis sent a floppy disk with information on a Microsoft word document to the police. This is where digital forensics comes in. They found that the owner of the file was named

The first item of the investigation of this file is to determine janes IP address at the time of

• Researched and analyzed data on cyber espionage, cyber terrorism, cyber-crime, hacking, child exploitation within the

The Department of Justice report entitled "Investigations Involving the Internet and Computer Networks" (2007) states that the Internet may be used by criminals for various reasons including the trading or sharing of information, concealing or assuming another identity, identifying and gathering information on victims and communicating with co-conspirators. The Internet may also be used by criminals for the distribution of information or alternatively misinformation and for the coordination of meetings,

“CHFI investigators can draw on an array of methods for discovering data that resides in a computer system, or recovering deleted, encrypted, or damaged file information known as computer data recovery (“Computer Hacking”, n.d.)”. A person who is a certified Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator has the skills necessary to identify an intruder’s footprints and to properly gather the necessary evidence to prosecute in the court of law (“Computer Hacking”, n.d.).

The internet has brought upon a new revolution of global interconnection where contacting someone on the other side of the world is just a click away, but with this international phenomenon comes an increased susceptibility with unfamiliar technology. Internet crime is compiled of all non-physical crime with the aid of a computer. Although broad in definition internet crimes are largely composed of acts such as cyber fraud, ‘phishing’ (username and password hacking), cyber stalking and hacking. Internet crime does not pose an overwhelming issue in society in terms of its

* Examine drives for evidence by running keyword searches and checking URL’s for Internet searches.

Based on Dauphin County First Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo, “We become a very electronic-oriented society.” (Marc Goodman). With this increase usage of electronic, we see a new set of criminals and crimes. With the cellular telephone, criminals use it, not only to communicate with one another, but also to target people and as a triggering device. For example, if the criminals are searching for someone they can text each other with the description of a person and then upon verification proceed with an order, possible death. With this same cellular telephone technology, law enforcement can use someone’s cellular telephone to track their movements or identify their location to help with investigations. The new set of crimes is cybercrimes. A cybercrime is any crime that involves the use of computer or the manipulation of digital data. Zackary J. Miller, section Chief of the FBI’s Cyber Criminal Division stated, “I think there is a growing cybercrime problem that we are continuing to chase a bit behind the curve… bank robbery and fraud are all facilitated by the internet.” (Bernice Young, 2011). There are five types of computer crimes: (1). internal computer crimes, such as viruses; (2). internet and telecommunication, which is hacking; (3). criminal enterprises, databases supporting drug distribution; (4). computer manipulation, embezzlement; and (5). hardware, software, and information theft. (Schmalleger,

In April 2011, GAO, Government Accountability Office, reported that backlogs in the forensic analysis of digital evidence can delay or hinder online child pornography investigations. Among factors that federal law enforcement officials cited as limiting investigations and prosecutions were variations in the steps that agencies believe enhance the integrity of forensic analysis of digital evidence. In some cases, these steps may increase the time it takes to analyze evidence and add to backlogs and delays. (GAO High Risk & Other Major Government Challenges Balancing Fighting Crime Versus Terrorism)

The agencies employed by governments to police the web in order to protect the vulnerable have seen an increase in child pornography and online fraud. The speed at which information can be distributed and the number of people that can be reached attracts those that are intent on causing harm. The term “cybercrime” is becoming more widely used. The financial gains that can be made and the anonymity the internet can provide, make the virtual world of cyberspace a haven for criminals. Although the internet has huge benefits for information gathering and social networking, in the wrong hands it can cause harm to the vulnerable and criminals are able to vanish into the underground with the use of false identities that are hard to track online.

In a world where technology is increasingly becoming the way of life, it was only a matter of time before crime was no longer just in the streets but happening online as well. Criminals now get a new approach to carry out their crimes with the use of computers. Since technology is more like a murder mystery than catching the bad guy in the act, a new discipline of forensics needed to be put into place. This is known as computer forensics. Forensic science is any science used for the purpose of law. In the case of computer forensics it is “the discipline that combines elements of law and computer science to collect and analyze data from computer systems, networks, wireless communications, and storage devices in a way that is admissible as evidence in a court of law” (U.S. Cert, 2008). Meaning if you do something illegal on the Internet it can be found.