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New US Computer Forensic Institute
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Mar 13, 2007 02:50 PM
from the bits-of-evidence dept.
from the bits-of-evidence dept.
Quincy writes "The DHS and Secret Service are setting up a new computer forensic institute in Alabama. Set to open in mid-2008, the new National Computer Forensic Institute will be able to train over 900 law enforcement officers per year. 'It will initially be staffed by 18 Secret Service agents and will feature classrooms, a forensic laboratory, an evidence vault, and server rooms. Courses will be offered in the investigation of electronic crimes, network intrusion investigation, and computer forensics... [T]he Secret Service says that it will help to bring judges and prosecutors up to speed as well.'" Maybe over time we'll see fewer botches of justice like those in the news recently.
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I wonder. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I wonder. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I wonder. (Score:4, Funny)
Officer, sweating, gulping, "Is that what I think it is?"
"That's right, and if this crate of mint condition, first edition gold-embossed Call of Cthulu sets were to disappear, I'm sure no one would mind too much, as these things tend to happen..."
Parent
No (Score:2)
Probably Feds Only (Score:2)
Do you HAVE to be a law officer, or can anyone sign up?
I strongly suspect that you'll have to be a civil servant to go and train, but probably not an official law enforcement officer (LEO).
The federal government currently does this kind of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) [fletc.gov] in Glynco, Georgia. I was a federal employee working for an Office of Inspector General [wikipedia.org], and I went to FLETC for 2 weeks of digital forensics training [fletc.gov] in a classroom. I was NOT a sworn LEO (i.e. couldn't take oaths, arrest people, or serve subpoenas), just an
So, they have computers in Alabama now? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So, they have computers in Alabama now? (Score:4, Funny)
On advanced technologies for converting between feet and meters, no doubt.
Parent
Sounds like a near-impossible task (Score:4, Interesting)
Figuring out what happened in a computer system months after the fact is not easy. Most programmers have more than enough trouble figuring out what exactly happened in their own programs thirty seconds ago.
Still -- not to say it's a bad idea. You have to start somewhere...
More of the same (Score:4, Insightful)
Huh? (Score:2, Insightful)
Holy fsck! A full year from now? In a year computers will have changed enough to cause this to falter badly from the start! It will take only one worm of the right design, one change to hard drive technology, one of any
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
They need two separate education tracks (Score:5, Insightful)
The other side (Score:5, Insightful)
The Secret Service says that it will help to bring judges and prosecutors up to speed as well.'"
What about defense attorneys?
You don't need one. (Score:2)
Re:The other side (Score:4, Insightful)
But since the prosecutorial state is interested in prosecuting and sentencing as many people as possible for as long as possible, they have no incentive to actually DEFEND people... I guarantee the tone of these classes is "how to get more convictions".... where it should be "how to better determine the truth".
"How can we make an airtight case against the 15 year old who made a porno of his girlfriend?"
mmmmhmmm
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
(People being people, it is probably harder to stir up public support for programs designed to produce better criminal defense lawyers.)
People have no idea how to *really* erase a file (Score:3, Interesting)
Microsoft must be the biggest supporter of computer forensic investigators.
Even since DOS 1.0, Microsoft operating systems never really erase a file. Now, they use cache, temp files, and the recycling bin to make lots of copies too. And that's only on the unerased portion of the hard drive. Chances are there are more copies on the erased data sectors.
Most users who really want to erase a file from the file system have to erase about two or three copies (if they know where the copies are). Wiping a file only zaps the original, not the copies.
Those investigators have it too easy.
My wiping program is made by Craftsman Tools (claw or ball-peen configuration)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
meager offerings (Score:2, Funny)
Alabama? (Score:2, Funny)
Am I the only one here who got a laugh out of this?
Redneck #1: (pokes computer with a stick) "dang, can't say ah evah seen one of dem der thangs b'for"
Reneck #2: (spits out chewing tobacco) "Well, ah dunno wut dat der thang is, but I rekon we oughta be shootin' it bout now"
Redneck #1: (opens beer from 6-pack holster on belt) "hmm, watchu say we take dis inta town here, and seeif summun'll know what it is?"
Reneck #2: "boy.. are you kiddin? We's the smart ones in dis he
law enforcement "bringing judges up to speed".... (Score:2)
isnt it always these people who are supporting the RIAA/MPAA/BSA/etc in open memos to congress and various other bodies.
I'd rather we "bring judges up to speed" by sending them to their local state u for a crash BA in computer science, where they will get "enough" of the theory they need to make judgments that are not incompetent, but without the bias from an organization which by its nature attracts inflexible authoritarians.
Super Computers? (Score:4, Funny)