Scene Investigation, and books like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the field of
Computer Forensics is no longer being put on the back burner. According to many
popular news outlets such as Forbes and Newsweek, the field of Computer Science is
expected to grow exponentially, leaving the the specialty of Forensic Science the need
to adapt with it. As long as technology has been at the base of human fingertips, there’s
always been substantial cases of fraud, network security issues, and online identity
theft. The field of Computer Forensics didn’t come into popularity until the 80’s and with
the rise of the .com era much computer evidence was used in …show more content…
Like any crime, there’s specific procedures that law
enforcement must take to ensure the authenticity of the evidence being presented.
Many times, when a forensic specialist is presented with a computer or a ton of
computers with which to retrieve information, the most vital procedure is making sure
the computer is secure. Once this is done and no outside forces are a threat, the
the specialist then locates every file saved on the hard drive, including encrypted and
ones not yet overwritten. It’s also part of the job title to locate and retrieve files that may have been deleted as well as decrypt and get access to protected files. It’s very
important to get copies of all the documents and prepare a testimony in court. With
copies, the original computer and evidence stays intact completely reducing the
chances of admissible evidence. Acute attention to detail, patience, and precision
are good qualities to have when working in the field of Computer Forensics. Like
mentioned before, any analyst may be called in to analyze the hardware or hard drive
on many computers all simultaneously. Of course, with most of these cases the …show more content…
People in the Computer Forensics field typically sport a Bachelors in Computer
Forensics or a related field such as Computer Science with some extra credentials
on the side. However, unlike very skewed jobs such as Forensic Accounting, and
Forensic Pathology, Computer Forensics is a little bit more lenient as far the as the
job qualifications are concerned. Sometimes a person either starts out as a IT
administrator or law enforcement agent and works their way into it. Some of the best
professionals in the field are self taught, it’s important that the individual have a clear
understanding of networking protocols, operating systems, various types of software,
and security breach issues. A clear criminal history is also important seeing as the
person can potentially be testifying against civil cases in court, anything can damage a
specialists credibility. In many cases, people within this field work in government
laborites and small law enforcement agencies. When working in an agency, it may be
a requirement that the individual be sworn in as a law enforcement officer first,