Their findings suggest that a healthy person’s time of death could be estimated with just a few hours, compared to longer periods of time using other techniques, by analyzing a set of activity genes (the technique looks a the genes to see whether they’re switched high or low) within certain regions of the deceased brain.

Moreover, as a breakthrough medical finding, the researchers discovered that correlation broke down when they analysed the autopsied brains of people who had suffered from depression. It seems depressed individuals have a internal circadian clock that is set haywire from the rest of the healthy population, basically putting them in different time zones from everyone else.

The findings suggest that patients with severe depression could be better treated if there was some way of improving the relationship between the daily cycle of gene activity of the brain with the actual time of day or night, they said.

“We think the depressed individuals are more likely to be out-of-sync with the regular wake-sleep timing,” said Jun Li of the University of Michigan, the lead author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Our data also suggests that their daily cycles are not only shifted, but also disrupted. That is, they sleep by the wrong clock, and when they do sleep, the quality [of sleep] could be different from normal sleep,” Dr Li said.

“If we can understand how depression and poor sleep reinforce each other, we may be able to find better treatment, perhaps by finding better ways to break the cycle,” he said.

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Law enforcement. It is usually associated with other related fields, such as consulting, financial and academic studies and research. The significance of specific knowledge of the legal environment is vital when starting a computer forensic investigation, because of different more or less obvious reasons. The top of mind is the characteristics of the investigations themselves, these involving proficient know-how in order to analyze the chances of the final report to win in court, based on juridical arguments, previous similar experiences and the anticipation of a possible flow of the process that is to take place. The less obvious advantages are usually used during the investigation itself, in settling the limits the investigator must take into consideration along with some proper legal ways to infringe the common sense usage of the rules. The classical law rules don’t always apply during such an investigation, especially because the expert will never pass the borderline, assuring the widest range of opening of the examination and research procedures.
Data retrieval. Together with analysis and system integration, the field is not only a highly sought area, but the salary is also top of this specialization’s line. Easily deduced, the requirements of this job are stringent and severe. Nonetheless, during the last four years the number of applicants has known an exponential growth. The profile most of the employees share is based on a few compulsory characteristics, vital in operation with data fields, research and analysis. Structural thinking, natural orientation towards details, interest in solving problems of all kind, passion for working with numbers, and coherent, yet adaptive decision process are just some of the features needed for a specialist to keep up with the investigative process.

Security software. Technology and computer science evolve so fast that the investigation procedures need to be changed and adapted according to the new generation technological equipment and software or applications. For such a rapidly changing field of activity, the analysts must always be up to date with the new equipment they have at their disposal. The processing or examining of data contents is related to a large range of data tools and applications used to recommend, implement, process and analyze the data base. The assessment tools and operating systems used in this process are as complex as they are very efficient. Of course, the threats and drawbacks of this job are that it implies a lot of responsibilities, hence the entire investigations risks to fail because of losing important data during the complex procedures most of the processes require, especially the data recovery ones.
The knowledge needed for these jobs includes different types of knowledge combining more activity fields. Among these, the ones that have a top employing rate are: theories, principles and practices in various technical/ computer science or computer engineering, knowledge of encryption systems, operation with trade craft, security software systems and counterintelligence, inter networking technologies, intelligence analysis and production, law enforcement and foreign languages.

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It is, indeed, required that you have a very good understanding of Windows operating system. The technical knowledge and experience must be good enough to assure you the comprehension of the computer forensic investigations.

The reason for which these trainings are held, as well as the purposes they serve are, as it follows, either getting the technical know-how or the specific knowledge for activaing inside a Computer Security Incident Response Team. This should also help acknowledge the necessary management and operating information to handle a successful forensic investigation, even when unexpected incidents occur in the pro-cess, by using specific tools and data information available in the systems.

The topics that may be covered during the forensic investigation trainings are also varied. The Law and Justice field assures the theorecal knowledge and the frame inside which the processes can take place, related to the search and seizure of the investigation, online and offline, involving the computer networks and the data that can be analyzed. The computer access and termination policies have to be known as well, in order for the investigation to be taken into consideration in court.

A computer security incident response team must be also trained to supervise the investigations as well. Along with this frame, the software is also highly important. The devices, tools, techniques and equipments that are supposed to be used differently, according to the specific of the investigation can as well be the topic of a training series.

The parts of the investigation processes are also important being well known, they constituting a training topic in itself. The assessment of the incident has to be followed by data acquirement and data analysis before the final written investigation report is made. As the collected data is vital in every investigation,   data loss prevention is also important, at least on a basic level, as well as the monitoring, computer activity usage software or the mitigation tools.

 The processes and operations including data are also trained, for someone who wants to initiate a computer forensic investigation. The compulsory knowledge includes hard drive image analysis (for all files, deleted files, exported files, data in slack, swap filing), as well as collecting and analyzing data through running and post mortem Windows operating system investigations. The entire system, with its memory, registry and file system can knowledge can also be improved following the trainings in the field.

Trainings have been held on event logging and associated log files inside the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on router, firewall, mailing servers and intrusion detection system logs. The log files, depending on the size limit set for the file and the duration of the logging event, can contain thousand of text entries. Their proper interpretation and usage inside a forensic investigation procedure can be learned by any forensic specialist after a training session. The accuracy of the interpretation can have a huge word to say in the final report of the computer forensic investigation, which is why a larger number of investigators apply for it every year.

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Defining computer forensics

Nowadays, everybody uses computers; they’ve become such an essential part of our lives that it’s hard to imagine how society would look without them. Considering how forensics deals with all aspects of crime, computer forensics was necessary and bount to appear, sooner or later. So, if we were to define it, we’d be saying that computer forensics is the investigation of a computer system (or parts) involved in crime, or which can hold information about a crime. But now, it’s not only about computers – tablets, smartphones, even ebook readers – all of them can be subjected to computer forensics.

It’s interesting to note that many detective techniques have their counterpart in computer forensics. For example, just like with a crime scene, just opening a file changes the file. If you just start a computer and open files left and right, there’s no way to know if you changed them. Any decent lawyer will contest the evidence taken this way, and you can kiss your cyber evidence good bye; but fear not – that’s why we need our computer guys.

Computer forensics job description

So evidence from computer forensics investigations is usually subjected to the same guidelines and practices of other digital evidence, meaning you have to be really careful when doing… anything. A digital forensics investigation consists of 3 stages, and you’ll be doing this every single time: acquiring and imaging, analysis, and reporting; yep, that’s right, be prepared for a whole lot of reports, because not that many people are savvy in this field, and you have to explain (sometimes the same things) everything step by step.

Most computer forensic jobs are found in the law enforcement sector. There are 4 main specialties; other, more niched options are available, but these are the main areas:

Computer Forensics Analyst – basic stuff. Takes out over half of all jobs in the field. You typically check e-mails and other cyber correspondance, hard disks, analyze pictures, analyzing everything in light of the crime in question. You may also check to see who accessed certain files or computers, where is someone located, check IPs, etc.

Special Agent – most of the time, you do the same things, but you’ll probably be dealing with counterintelligence or counterterrorism, so the requirements are much, much higher. Special agents work for agencies (duh), such as FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. You’ll also be required, in most cases, to be physically fit and be able to pass strict physical tests.

Ethical Hacker – the name pretty much says it all. This is where the going really gets tough – you’ve got to know how to hack and slash your way into other computers, but mostly, you’ve got to know how to protect against such attacks.

Information Security Manager – as in every field, when you get to a certain point, you get moved from “field work” to manager work. This is not really a job you get, but rather a job you get promoted into.

You’re probably going to be surprised by this, but within the financial services sector, there are an increased number of computer forensic jobs available. Their role is to prevent bad things from happening, and gather evidence when they do happen.

In the past 10-20 years, cyber crime has increased exponentially, and the odds are it will continue at a similar rate, so there’s plenty of work available.

Applications of computer forensics

Digital forensics is now commonly used in both criminal law and private investigation. But how is it done, really?

Cyber crime
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind as an application is cyber crime. If someone stole something via the internet, or did some phishing, or has pornographic material with minors, or anything else.

Attribution
Meta data and other logs can be used to attribute actions to an individual. If you find a computer, tablet or smartphone, you can often track its owner by the documents on the hard drive.

Alibi and action check
Information provided by suspects/witnesses can often be verified digitally.

Intent
It’s often circumstantial, but when you have a rapist suspect, and on his computer you find google searches for ‘how to rape and not get caught’, that’s a pretty good indication (and something in these lines, but less obvious often happens).

Document authentication
Pretty much what the name says – verify if a document originated on a certain computer, when and now it was modified, etc.

Computer forensics cases

The admissibility of digital evidence relies on the tools used to extract it, which vary from country to country. Laws dealing with digital evidence are concerned with two issues: integrity and authenticity. Usually, they fall into the same strict legal guidelines as other forms of evidence. Computer forensics has been very successful in several high-profile cases, of which we’ll name just a few:

Soham murders
The alibi of the killer was disproved when mobile phone records of the person he claimed to be with showed she was out of town at the time.

BTK Killer
Dennis Rader was convicted of a string of serial killings that occurred over a period of sixteen years. Towards the end of this period, he started sending letters to the police in the form of floppy disks. The evidence helped catch and convict him.

Joseph E. Duncan III
Forensic investigators found a spreadsheet in which Duncan was planning his murders; this helped prove he was planning the crimes.

Sharon Lopatka
After going through hundreds of emails, investigators were able to find her killer, Robert Glass. In this very disturbing, the victim wanted to be tortured and strangled, which was also proven this way.

Corcoran Group
According to Wikipedia: This case confirmed parties’ duties to preserve digital evidence when litigation has commenced or is reasonably anticipated. Hard drives were analyzed by a computer forensics expert, who could not find relevant e-mails the Defendants should have had. Though the expert found no evidence of deletion on the hard drives, evidence came out that the defendants were found to have intentionally destroyed emails, and misled and failed to disclose material facts to the plaintiffs and the court.

Dr. Conrad Murray
Dr. Conrad Murray – the doctor of Michael Jackson was convicted partially by digital evidence on his computer. This evidence included medical documentation showing lethal amounts of propofol.

Computer forensics certifications

You’re going to find lots of deceiving information on some websites – pay extra attention when dealing with such info. IACIS (the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists) offers the Certified Computer Forensic Examiner (CFCE) program. There’s also the ISFCE Certified Computer Examiner and IACRB Certified Computer Forensics Examiner – and there are a few others.

Also, most commercial based forensic software companies are now also offering proprietary certifications on their products.

So that’s pretty much the ABCs in terms of cyberforensics; of course, there would be much, much more to say, but this is just introductory information – we have more posts covering different aspects of the business which I invite you to check out.

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Contrary to popular belief, however, a forensic chemist will rarely perform investigative work – field work is most of the time performed by law enforcement and forensic technicians. A forensic chemist will analyze evidence including hair samples, paint chips, glass fragments, gun powder, blood stains and so on. For this task a multidisciplinary approach is required and, as such, a merged knowledge from the fields of chemistry, biology, material science and genetics is required. The prevalence of DNA analysis in forensic science as well as the weight it holds in court means that a background in genetics becomes increasingly important.

A forensic chemist may also be called upon during drug busts or other drug related operations to analyze various substances and assess their nature.

To achieve this, a forensic chemist will use a variety of techniques including microscopy, optical analysis (UV, infrared, X-ray), gas chromatography, and other technologies. Findings are carefully laid in a report that will be used in support of criminal investigations.

Forensic chemistry working condition

Typically a forensic chemist will work in a lab setting, most of the time employed by a local, state or federal government. Some private entities that work closely with law establishments will also provide forensic chemistry positions. The hours are long, tasks are generally repetitive and the equipment is used is highly technical.

As you might imagine, considering the lives and liberty of individuals are at stake, strict procedures regarding evidence and documentation handling is warranted. At times, law enforcement and court officials might pressure the forensic chemist to deliver results and work at a faster pace to meet these demands. As such the work might seem intense.

Public speaking and strong communication skills are required as the forensic chemist will often be called in front of court to testify his findings. Complex scientific procedures in such a way the justice and juries need to understand will need to be conveyed.

Career path

Like stated earlier, a forensic chemist will typically be employed through a federal, state or county labs, as well as private institutions at some times. Besides the base profession, however, someone trained or experienced in the field of forensic science might also move to work in other departments like forensic science, academe or administration. For instance, there are numerous cases in which a forensic chemist or some other forensic scientist has moved to managing a lab, where he handles attributions like supervising other scientists, instead of being himself involved in day-to-day analysis. Case review and general lab management would also be part of his attributions. Patent law is also a viable branching.

Forensic chemistry educational requirements

Of course, a strong background in chemistry and technical knowledge of instrument use is required. Though it is not always required, it is definitely recommended to have a either an undergraduate or graduate degree in forensic science. Those interested in a position as a trace evidence analysis, like glass, hair, paper and so on should rather focus on instrumental analysis. If forensic biology and DNA analysis are preferred, take microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry courses. Those interested in the toxicological aspects of this work should study physiology, biochemistry, and chemistry.

Salary of a forensic chemist

The salary of a forensic chemist varies on experience, position and state of employment. Typically a forensic chemist earns $70,550 yearly. If you’re just starting off as a forensic chemist, expect to earn $58,100 yearly in the beginning.

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The generally assumed field that became a top of mind is the delinquency area, although the original meaning of the computer forensic field term was used to describe civil procedures. The principles involved are mostly similar to the data recovery course to which the know-how also requires a legal audit trail, which is a chronogical record also security – relevant, providing documented proof of the sequence of given activities that altered specific procedures or processes. While the range of using such evidence in court is more widely spread, both the european and American cultures begin to develop legal frameworks to factually accept it in an official manner.

The discipline, as well as the practice, surprises the legal framework of the state in question by which specific technological processes are admissible in front of a court in order to prove guilt or innocence in cases of rights violations or protocol infringement. These include data services, data transfer, wireless communications involving specific information such as the spectrums of illegal usage of intellectual property or children pornography. Also, if the information an organization beholds of a client fails to be protected according to the signed agreement and the law of Parties, the consequences make it liable in either civil or criminal court.

The process is truly belaboured and it involves advanced knowledge in both Laws and computer science, as it was previously mentioned. Withal, the tools and techniques required for any specific investigation procedure depend on the nature of the case to be solved as well as to the purpose of the investigations. There are two main types of data that the investigators in computer forensics collect. The first one is persistent data, consisting of information stored on a local hard drive, stored while the device is turned off, while the volatile data is going to be lost when the device is turned off, the information being either stored in the memory or in transmitting process. This second type of data remained in the registers and the random access memory (RAM) and can be accessed after the operation has ended, if the instruments used are properly chosen.

Similarly to any other type of research, the forensic investigations imply specific stept to be followed. Identifying the purpose and the nature of the investigation and the tools needed for the entire procedure to take place is only the first stage of the reasearch, while the second one consists in the evidence acquisition, i.e. the identification of the sources of digital evidence to pe preserved.

During the third stage the investigator decides what are the best tools to be used in the specific procedure, performs the data process and renders the interpretation of the analysis results. Finally, the obtained results are disseminated in reported findings and presented findings. The most important two goals that have to be accomplished for the computer forensic investigation to be successful are to be practiced effectively, under legal conditions and to draft the basic theoretical information that lends itself to be used.

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The case arose from the collection of DNA in 2009 from Alonzo Jay King Jr. after his arrest on assault charges in Wicomico County, Md. His DNA matched that collected from evidence in a 2003 rape, which eventually got him convicted. With this in mind, many crimes could be solved if a preemptive DNA sampling is put in place.

But then again this evokes a number of issues related to privacy and liberty – a practice that might run afoul with the Fourth Amendment, which generally requires a warrant or individualized suspicion before police may conduct a search. Would the police be allowed to collected samples from a speeding driver? If the practice applies for major crimes only, there is always the risk of interpretation, something a higher force could use to its advantage. This and more concern some of the Justices in court who are debating the subject, like Justice Antonin Scalia.

“This is a very reliable tool,” she said, “but it’s not based on any kind of suspicion of the individual who’s being subjected to it.”

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. thinks otherwise and believes this should be introduced.

“I think this is perhaps the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades,” he said, adding: “This is what is at stake: Lots of murders, lots of rapes that can be solved using this new technology that involves a very minimal intrusion on personal privacy.”

“Why isn’t this the fingerprinting of the 21st century?” he asked.

What will come of this, we can not say for certain, but ITSGOV is closely following the situation and will keep you posted as it unfolds.

For now, Justice Scalia said, the law’s purpose is “to catch the bad guys, which is a good thing.” But, he added, “the Fourth Amendment sometimes stands in the way.”

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Behind closed doors, Christina Mcfarling meets with a Magic Valley attorney to discuss personal legal issues something that can cost hundreds of dollars.

“I like the idea that it’s free, if I wanted to talk to a lawyer it would be a lot of money to see the lawyer” said Christina Mcfarling, seeking legal advice.

Indeed, when preparing for a forensics carreer, a few discussions with attorneys are absolutely crucial, but alas, they are also increidbly expensive. The CSI advice clinic is a place where all students in the field can go and have all their questions answered.

“We have two volunteer attorneys at each session and we try to address questions in terms of what their legal rights are and try to get them other resources that might help them,” said Attorney Laired Stone. Students shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions, local attorneys make the entire process confidential.”

Most questions have common themes:

“We have questions dealing with wrongful termination, disputes with landlords, and credit issue. We get a whole variety” said Stone.

All in all, there are 14 volunteers working there.

“I’ve looked on the internet to try to get help before and I found out we had this program going on and I learned a lot.”

Learning and helping CSI students advance their way through college – I just wish I’d have something like this to write every single day.

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Professor Peter Gill, from the University of Oslo told a Commons select committee that UK systems could eventually not be comparable with those from overseas:

“[The] UK is currently locked into outdated technology that is more than 10 years old,” he said. “This means that cases will not be analysed using best practice methods.Cross-border comparisons with other countries will be compromised since the systems in use will no longer be entirely comparable.”

Traditionally, the UK has been one of the leading countries in terms of forensic technology, but as of late, the system has really fallen behind, and now, we’re only one of the 4 EU countries that had not upgraded to a marker set recommended by the EU.

However, the Home Office argued thatt techniques used in serious cases were already “as sensitive, if not more sensitive, than those being proposed”:

“While we recognise this new profiling technology has benefits, its introduction needs to be handled carefully to ensure it does not compromise the integrity of our existing forensic DNA techniques,” the spokesperson said.

But this is also a sort of confession – the sensitive equipment being used only in “serious cases”. Experts also say that the “chemistry” that underlies DNA testing kits used by UK forensic science labs is now more than a decade old and that newer, more sensitive systems can obtain results from even low quality samples – improving success rates. This is the kind of information that can make or break a case.

Dr Chris Maguire, from the Northumbria University Centre for Forensic Sciences (NUCFS), was pretty worried about the situation:

“If you change your system to one of the new European standard marker sets, and you have a crime stain with a match in [the old system] and you want to upgrade it – what do you do? You’ve got to go and find the individual and ask them for another sample, instead of just going to the second swab, re-processing it and confirming it.”

Dr Sue Pope, from Principal Forensic Services, agreed:

“The effect will be that upgrading to the ESS system will require taking another sample, with obvious costs,” she explained.

There is another problem with the system: UK’s new Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 allows DNA samples to be stored for a maximum of six months before they are destroyed – a period many forensic scientists believe to be insufficient. But the Home Office reacted once again:

“For too long we failed to collect the DNA of prisoners while still retaining information about people who were arrested but never charged. We are now taking steps to ensure that we no longer retain the DNA and fingerprints of innocent people. Through the Protection of Freedoms Act we are protecting the privacy and human rights of the public while keeping them safe from crime by ensuring the right people are on DNA databases.”

Argue what you want, but one thing’s for sure: the UK forensic system is really starting to fade out, and this is one of the core elements of crime fighting.

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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), forensic science technicians earned a median salary of $51,480 in 2009. That number is increasing slowly, but the thing is, the sum varies greatly from one area to another. For example, in the US, in Arkansas the average salary is just under $40.000/year, while in Kansas, the average is almost double: $73.000/year. Massachussets – $82.000. Why this difference? Hard to say; the average salary depends on the state finances, supply and demand, number of positions, etc.

This also depends on the level – typically, he hiring salary is 60% of the average salary in the state, and with 2 years of experience, you go to about 90% of the average salary, and once you hit senior level, with over 10 years of experience, you generally start going way above the average. What about Europe? I could only find reliable data from UK, but if you have any other sources, I would definitely publish them.

Great Britain loves their forensic technicians – the hiring salary is over 16.000 pounds (25.000 dollars), but after only 2 years, you easily go up to $46.000.

When calculating the salary, you should keep in mind that all the extra hours that you will do are paid – in most cases at least. Also, your level of studies matters. Some offices won’t even hire you with only Bachelor, but even if they do, an MSC will definitely help – doesn’t really have to be in forensics, but it will definitely be a worthy investment – both for your knowledge and for your salary.

If you want to become a forensic science technician, the salary is definitely not your top reason – the money is OK, you have the possibility to build a fine carreer, but the are simply better rewards out there in this line of work.

Also check out:

Forensic psychologist salary

Forensic odontologist salary

Forensic anthropologist salary

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