Data Acquisition and Computer Crime

Are hackers just pirates of the Internet?  Experts at criminal data acquisition?  Or are they like Gary McKinnon, Scottish systems administrator and hacker, accused of what one United States prosecutor claims is the "biggest military computer hack of all time."  McKinnon has stated that he was just looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO activity and other info potentially useful to the public. The government obviously thinks otherwise. And after 9 years and a series of legal proceedings in England, Gary McKinnon is currently awaiting extradition to the United States. Since his alleged crime, he was diagnosed by three of the world's leading psychiatric experts as suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism disorder compounded with clinical depression.  Does this make him any less guilty?  Probably not, but he has dedicated defenders who have launched a “Free Gary” campaign that is alive and kicking on most social media sites today.

How does this case concern those of us concerned with hackers skilled at data acquisition on our home computers?  This is where digital forensics would come into play.  Starting to sound like a CSI episode?  Digital forensics investigates and recovers material found in all digital devices, often in relation to computer crime. They look at a broad range of information pertaining to a particular case.  Everything is examined, from logs, like internet history, to the actual files on the drive.  This evidence is kept for cases to convict identity thieves, child pornography criminals, cyber-terrorists, and all other forms of criminal computer crimes.  Careful, even posting a simple message on the Internet, that there will be a bomb attack can be considered cyber terrorism.  So, for all you crazed wannabe killers out there, stop Googling “How to kill people,” or you’ll soon be caught!

Still concerned with internet pirates stealing your information?  Data Acquisition software can help us recover the data we’ve lost.  Those family pictures from 1985 that took you months to scan and upload would be a tragic loss.  Never seeing your mom’s feathered hair would be a loss more severe than if you got your shiny new smart phone stolen.  If we lose something personal from our homes, it’s not as serious as if we lose some important information we’ve saved on our computers.  So beef up your anti-virus software, back-up your music somewhere else, and by all means, change your passwords to something other than simple numbers or letters!