Are you searching for evidence of child pornography?
If so, you need to stop your work right now. That kind of thing must be done
with experienced help, because you can end up being prosecuted for the same
child pornography offenses that you are investigating.
Furthermore, you need a very solid understanding of the limits of computer
forensics as far as gathering reliable evidence, and you clearly do not have
that understanding.
You have already drawn a number of invalid conclusions, such as that the use of
privacy protection software equates to, and is proof of, the user's efforts to
conceal his illegal activities.
Are you aware that if the user had not used antispyware and anti-cookie
software, that the computer would definitely be filled with evidence that your
examination could misinterpret or misrepresent to others in your report?
Those privacy and data sanitation programs are used to protect the user from
harm as a result of YOUR MISTAKES. Those programs also protect the user against
harm caused by hidden third-party control over the computer, which may result
in illegal activities being present on the computer's hard drive despite the
innocence of the computer user, just as much as they are used for other reasons.
I would be happy to discuss these issues with you further, and offer you
additional insight privately.
Sincerely,
Jason Coombs
jasonc@science.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Edmond Chow <echow@gettechnologies.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:23:01
To:security-basics@securityfocus.com
Cc:Edmond Chow <echow@videotron.ca>
Subject: RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use
Dear List,
I'm working on the following project and would appreciate your views:
I have been tasked with finding out if a certain desktop computer was used
to view pornographic sites on the internet. This user has gone to great
lengths to try to mask his illegal activities by erasing cookies, temp.
files and by installing anti-spyware software on his computer. Are there
any tools that would allow me to still uncover proof that he had accessed
these sites? So far, the tech department is telling me that he did access
illegal sites on only two dates but I suspect that this illegal activity
started many months or years ago and it will be up to me to find more proof.
Also, at a network level, we know his IP address but yet my technical
support department is telling me that they cannot (either because they don't
want to or because they are not technically capable of) tell me what
internet sites this IP address has accessed in the past. Logically, there
must be a point in the network (on some piece of hardware) where I can
consult log files to track his activities? Or, is there a log file that I
can consult that will tell me what sites all my users have accessed and from
what IP address?
In terms of access to the desktop in question, I will have full access as
the computer will be in my possession in the coming days.
Thank-you and any help that you can provide would be most appreciated.
Regards,
Edmond
