Computer Forensics or Electronic Evidence Discovery is being offered as courses in many Universities and you can even take courses online and get a certification. At times I really wish I was a geek and had been into computers and technology when they first hit the scene. Oh sure I know a little of the basics, enough to get by on, but I really don’t know if I would have the comprehension needed to learn all that would be required of me for a computer science degree.

Law enforcement, military, intelligence agencies and big corporations use computer forensic investigators to help solve cyber crimes and other actions that are committed by criminal minds. Along with the greatness of the Internet and everything it represents we unfortunately unleashed a new type of criminal that can so easily prey on the more naive among us and hack into top priority files at will.  (Apparently the fiends did it to my Facebook…Go figure)

I find it so fascinating how forensic analysts can conserve and restore information from a computer and other types of electronic media even when you think you’ve gotten rid of some type of information or records. Computer forensic analysts can retrieve data from a hard drive whose contents have been completely erased. They can distinguish and recover any corrupted, formatted, hidden or deleted files also from any electronic media.

They have to maintain the originality of the crucial data though otherwise it wont be accepted by the courts as evidence. Criminals are adapting to changes because they are aware of what law enforcement agencies do. Viruses and booby traps can be installed in a computer that can modify or damage evidence, making it inadmissible in the court of law. You can learn a lot from TV maybe too much.

Computer forensics is becoming more and more important as technology continues to develop and cyber crimes mount. The cyber criminal is usually very smart and I’m always amazed at some of the schemes and frauds that are perpetrated on a daily bases on the unsuspecting, ( which would be me). At least now people have learned to be more suspicious of everything and everybody and have stopped being so trusting on the Internet.

They have learned that not everyone in the world is their friend (except….me )  and they aren’t always who they say they are, some through personal experience unfortunately.