Craigslist Killer Identified by IP Address

A Boston University medical student has been charged in the so-called Craigslist killing. Philip Markoff, 23, allegedly found his victims advertising their masseuse services on the classified ad site Craigslist. Police were led to Markoff by a virtual fingerprint.

wbur

Computer Spies Breach Fighter-Jet Project

Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project. The plane relies on 7.5 million lines of computer code of which the spies were interested in data about the design of the plane, its performance statistics, and its electronic systems, former officials said.

wall street journal

U.S. Recruiting Hackers to Combat Cyberthreats

General Dynamics Information Technology put out an ad last month on behalf of the Homeland Security Department seeking applicants who could "think like the bad guy." Candidates, must understand hackers' tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems.

associated press

Vermont Considers Legalizing Sexting

Vermont’s Legislature is considering a bill that, if approved, would make the state one of the first in the nation to grant legal protections to teenagers who send sexually explicit photos and videos to one another with their cell phones.

burlington free press

Criminals Pay Top Money for Hackable Nokia Phone

Criminals are willing to pay thousands of euros for a discontinued Nokia mobile phone with a software problem that can be exploited to hack into online bank accounts, according to a fraud investigator in the Netherlands.

network world

Crime Rings Behind 91% of Data Theft

Cybercrime rings are responsible for many of the most successful security breaches last year, according to a report by forensic investigators for Verizon Business. The report revealed that a staggering 91% of all compromised records were the result of activity by organized criminal groups.

information age

Full report: verizon business

Motorola Accuses Ex-CFO of Destroying Evidence

Motorola Inc accused its former chief financial officer, Paul Liska, of destroying evidence needed for a whistleblower case he brought against the company after he was fired. Motorola’s forensic experts found that a data destruction program was run on the laptop on Jan. 30 and Feb. 12 destroying user created data on the computer.

reuters

Mobile Computers Play Important Role in Fighting Mobile Phone Crime

Radio Tactics Limited (RTL), a provider of mobile phone forensic solutions to law enforcement agencies, recently introduced Apollo—a new crime-fighting system using Dolphin 7600 mobile computers and an internally developed software application. Apollo enables police officers to check mobile phones on the spot to see if they have been stolen, lost, or blocked.

on windows

Microsoft Providing Free Forensic Software to INTERPOL

Microsoft will provide its Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) tool free of charge to INTERPOL for international distribution. COFEE uses common digital forensics tools to help officers at the scene of a crime gather volatile evidence of live computer activity that would otherwise be lost in a traditional offline forensic analysis.

read more

Outgoing Police Director Says Computer Forensics Increasingly Important

Colonel James Baker, the outgoing director of the Vermont State Police, says computer evidence is increasingly important in fighting crime. Much of the evidence collected in the investigation of the murder of Braintree teenager Brooke Bennett was found on computers and in cyberspace, Baker said.

vermont public radio

Michigan Police Switch to Digital Cameras

The Port Huron Police Department will install state-of-the-art digital cameras in its 14 patrol cars in May, Chief Don Porrett told the Times Herald. Digital cameras—and the footage they capture—are fast becoming essential to law enforcement, Porrett said.

the times herald

New Digital Forensic Techniques Return Trust to Digital Images

Dartmouth computer science professor Hany Farid discussed forensic techniques used to detect digital tampering at Friday’s Jones Seminar at the Thayer School of Engineering. Farid ended the lecture by describing two more recent, cutting edge techniques his lab has developed.

dartmouth undergraduate journal of science

iPhone Forensic White Paper

This white paper reviews forensic tools available for the iPhone. We performed forensic analysis with each tool and reported on the installation, acquisition, reporting, and accuracy of each tool. The 3G iPhone (firmware version 2.2) was used for the testing but this white paper may, over time, include other models and firmware versions.

chicago electronic discovery

Geek Speak Deciphered

Ever get bogged down with the technical terminology surrounding computer forensics? This Guide to the Language of Data Storage and Networking is just what you need, with definitions ranging from simple terms like server and internet to more complex terms and all those dreaded acronyms.

craig ball