RMRI, Inc. News: Internet Investigations - Article One (1)
I am starting a series of articles on Internet Investigations. I feel that this can be useful to the public, and to other investigators. today, I'd like to write a very basic and cursory start to this series of articles. As we move forward in the technology behind the Internet and computers, we are seeing an explosion of "experts" in fields such as digital forensics, email tracing, and Internet Profiling. It is amazing to watch this phenomenon develop, as only 10 years ago most of these people could not even turn a computer on. I remember a time when there were no nice looking programs that allowed you to use a mouse to obtain a certain set of results in the world of digital forensics, there were no such animals as Encase, FTK, WinHex, and ProDiscover. If you wanted to recover data or image a drive, you used commands in the console to do it. Most Unix systems (yes, I am including Linux in this description) have had most of the tools needed to image, recover, authenticate, and search data from a hard drive since the early 90s. There is nothing new about the dd command, nor is there anything new about checksums used to authenticate data with. It is all just fairly new to the "self proclaimed experts", these days. It is amazingly comical to watch the computer experts tout their knowledge to the public, and know that most of them would not even know the simple two letter command to use to get root (admin privileges) on a Linux box.
To me, an expert is someone that has a wide range of knowledge about a particular subject. So, if I see someone calling their self an expert on computer security, and they are unfamiliar with the .nix systems, I have a hard time crediting them with being an expert. Not that the understanding of .nix systems is crucial to assisting people with computer problems, as most consumers use Windows systems these days; even with the popularity that Linux is gaining as a desktop; however the lack of understanding itself presents a signal to me. Let us try to remember, open source is making a move towards being the standard for most technical work being done on computers these days; to include digital froensics.
Currently in the world of digital forensics we are seeing a push towards only allowing licensed Private Investigators to work cases involving digital forensics that may wind up in the court room. As a Private Investigator myself, one would think that I would be all for that. However, there is a larger issue here. Most of the REAL digital forensics gurus, are not licensed Private Investigators. I mean the REAL, know their stuff, undisputable experts in the field. So, if they get left out, what happens to the quality of this type of work? If the Dan Farmer's and the Andrew Rosen's can't work digital forensics cases that may go to court, we have lost a very precious asset in the digital forensics world, we have lost the pioneers, the "father's of modern day digital forensics", and we are left with those that can afford to invest in nice software, that don't understand fully how to use it, and have a shingle to hang that proclaims them to be an "expert". In doing this, we have put the integrity of our entire judicial system at risk, in regards to digital forensics cases that will go to court.
There are many approaches to Internet investigations, some are thorough, and produce accurate and honest results, some "get it right sometimes". And sometimes, there are no results that can be produced in certain cases. Don't let anyone guarantee you that they can obtain a certain result for you without them doing a thorough analysis of the data that you do have, because the success of a given Internet investigation often times depends on the skill, knowledge, and savvy of a person unknown at the time that the Internet investigator starts the case.
Later we will explore the article above in a little more detail.
RMRI, Inc. Is Constantly Staying Ahead Of The Game!
RMRI, Inc. is always updating it's equipment, and getting new and often times customized equipment in for various types of investigations. All desktops that are owned by RMRI, Inc. will now have a minimum of 4 GiB of RAM and dual core processors, and all field laptops will have a minimum of 2 GiB of RAM and dual core processors. This means more applications can be ran at once, with greater speed; giving way to faster results in working various types of cases from a computing environment.
Look for pictures and explanations of RMRI, Inc.'s equipment in upcoming news articles!
Internet Crimes Investigative Analysis Report
Currently RMRI, Inc. is offering an evaluation on all criminal defense investigations regarding defendants charged with Internet Crimes. We will read all of the reports that you have on the case, make helpful suggestions to assist you in preparing the best defense possible for you client, and evaluate the strength of the prosecution's case for you. This report will be written and credited to the name of the investigative agency that hires us to do this report. We have been able to "shut down" the prosecution's case before it ever went to trial with this report; in some cases.
We charge $1,500.00 for this report.
Ricky B. Gurley