Computer forensics is the science of retrieving, analyzing and preserving data gleaned through data storage devices on an ordinary PC. These data storage devices include the hard drive, floppy disc drives, CD/DVD drives and any other data storage device that may be in use.
Computer forensics is in a sense, the autopsy of a computer. Whereas the Medical Examiner performs an autopsy on a person to find out how he or she died, the autopsy of a computer involves discovering what data the computer contains.
This is extremely important in a legal sense. Cyber crimes, unheard of a decade ago are unfortunately rampant now and many large police departments have a cyber crimes unit as well as a computer forensics department.
Many people believe that when they delete information from their computer that it is gone forever, however this couldn’t be further from the truth. A savvy computer forensics scientist can retrieve almost any data from a computer.
Financial records, chat transcripts, email, searches and downloads are some of the data sources that could contain incriminating information about a person. Pedophiles are constantly being caught and presented with transcripts of their chat activity with children.
Regardless of the crime committed and in the case of missing persons, if a computer exists in the home, it is often the first thing law enforcement wants to examine. Even when the data recovered isn’t proof that the suspect committed a crime, information that the person looked at can often give law enforcement clues they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Computer forensics is a science and one that is fascinating and sometimes crucial to solving a crime.