Our Digital Behavior – From A Computer Forensic Investigator Perspective
The digital world is taking over and for many, this is a good thing. Shopping, shipping, communicating and sharing ideas or messages has never been easier or faster.
In fact, the average adult spends around twenty hours online per week.
Yes, the digital world is really taking over. But with every good advancement in technology, there will always be a way to exploit it for less than ideal purposes.
Cyberspace is only limited by storage capacity which can be updated at any time. It’s no wonder those seeking to hide illicit information or seeking to do harm turn to the ever-expanding digital horizon to serve their purposes.
Many times, a person’s activities online can determine a criminal act has or will take place. In these cases, a computer forensic investigator is needed to investigate and determine user patterns and characteristics.
Why is digital forensics important?
Every criminal—past, present or future–who stores any amount of information online leaves a trail. More often than not, these criminals or pre-criminals are good at hiding their cyber tracks. If there is nothing to follow, crimes can be committed without any chance to stop the crime or the offender.
Developing a digital behavior analysis will help law enforcement pinpoint persons of interest, criminal activity and hopefully stop future crimes. This is a specialty handled by a digital forensics investigator.
Where would a digital behavior analysis be used?
A digital behavior analysis can be used in a multitude of ways to further legal cases. For instance, if a business is suspicious of a former employee, maybe one who was fired for unsavory activities, holds a grudge against their former employee and has made threats, a computer forensic investigator can be utilized to perform a behavior analysis to see if this person is a true threat. In the case of a crime that has been committed, when the evidence is short, a digital behavioral analysis is performed to not only find hidden or abnormal digital behavioral patterns, but to determine if the alleged perpetrator should be further prosecuted.
While most of online activity are normal patterns of life and conducive to a productive business day, there will always be those who will use technology to further their own illegal agendas.
With the help of digital forensic experts, these individuals can be found, brought to justice or stopped before a crime has been committed.