A person working on the laptop

Benefits of Computer Forensics

Every computer holds a plethora of information in it. From browser history to files on your PC, everything contains pieces of evidence that may help in an investigation. Computers have been used for evidence for years, and credit goes to the forensics team for retrieving and evaluating the necessary information.

For instance, a digital forensic expert’s help is necessary in a hacking case. The hackers use all protocols to hide their identity to steal from individuals and businesses. If you’re doing a criminal investigation of a similar case, then our cyber forensic experts can help you unravel the truth.

Here are the benefits of computer forensics.

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digital recording on computer screen

The Main Branches of Digital Forensics and Their Applications

With a greater dependence on cloud computing and computer systems, digital forensics now has a strong footprint in the law enforcement avenue. Credit card fraud, cases of child pornography, and audit frauds need ace digital forensic experts to assess and analyze data for court proceedings. Only in 2021, cybercrime incidents were some of the most frequently reported criminal offenses. Crimes like phishing, personal data breach, extortion, and identity theft were reported by the thousands.

To understand the extent to which digital forensics can help you with data analysis and extraction, here’s a closer look at its branches:

Computer Forensics

Previously, the words ‘computer forensics’ and ‘digital forensics’ were used interchangeably. Computer forensics extract, analyze and preserve data for criminal and court proceedings. The branch uses strategies similar to those of data recovery. They also follow some legal guidelines for data extraction.

Network Forensics

This branch of digital forensics focuses on monitoring and assessing computer network traffic for legal evidence, information gathering, or third-party intrusion detection. David Schiffer, a correspondent for Forbes, is quite certain cybercrime issues are bound to exacerbate as organizations grow their networks.

Mobile Device Forensics

The branch covers the recovery of digital evidence from phones using forensic data analysis methods. The term ‘mobile devices’ goes for all devices with GPS, internal memory, and communicative facilities. Some things that mobile forensics are still trying to decode include:

  • Locating the cell phone while the mobile is on hibernation mode or is switched off
  • Shifts in mobile phone form like changes in the operating system, memory storage, and peripherals like pin connectors

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Recovering data from phones can get quite complex. At Eclipse Forensics, our data forensic experts can collect call logs, text messages, deleted pictures, call lists, and more data sets.

Database Forensics

Database forensics is related to metadata. The information can exist in a server’s RAM. During such a case,  cyber forensic experts perform a live analysis of RAMs to extract data. A forensic examination of data includes who accessed the database and if data in the system has been tampered with. Organizations across the world have data stored in complex databases that can be analyzed to collect forensic data.

Database forensics can also identify transactions within an application database. Evidence of fraud and wrongdoing may be collected this way.

Contact Eclipse Forensics for Certified Digital Forensic Services

We are pros at uncovering electronic data for courtrooms! To avail our audio forensic and video forensic services,  contact us at 9047971866.

Essential Elements of Digital Forensics: A Complete Guide

The field of digital forensics is still an unfamiliar thing for many. There’s still some confusion about data extraction and data analysis. For many businesses, digital forensics can be an integral part of an incident response process. The heavy usage of video recordings, CCTV tapes, audio, and digital data has made the field of digital forensics an important aspect of criminal trials.

While the process of analyzing and preserving digital data may vary from case to case, the process has some basics that most forensic labs follow.

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IP forensics

How Digital Forensics Helps in IP Theft Cases

Intellectual property theft is the expression used to describe a situation where someone steals an idea or invention from a company or individual. It also refers to cyber criminals stealing a firm’s trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Unfortunately, identifying IP theft can be challenging in a world where a few clicks can compromise a company’s trade secrets.

Digital forensic experts play a critical role in handling potential IP theft cases effectively. Here’s how cyber forensics are used in IP theft investigations:

Using Forensics to Identify IP Theft  

Most IP theft perpetrators are the company’s employees. Thus, asking your IT team to track evidence may raise conflicts of interest or bias. Furthermore, your IT team might not have the right skills and knowledge required to track down the intangible assets. Thus, companies must rely on professional digital forensic engineers to trace and preserve the collected evidence. Here are some effective methods of digital forensics used for handling IP theft cases:

  1. Use of Devices – a reliable digital forensic team will preserve any crime-related electronic devicesfor the authorities to inspect. They will shut down the access to all related devices upon suspecting an IP theft. The investigation will proceed to identify and harvest data that might help experts determine the crime.
  2. An In-depth Analysis of Data – a successful digital forensic investigation goes beyond analyzing communication contents and user movement. A detailed examination will show exactly what happened during the cybercrime. Digital forensics addresses the following concerns during an IP theft investigation:
  • Did the criminals copy data onto CDs or USBs?
  • Was any mass data deleted?
  • Where was the USB flash drive used?
  • Did they use a wiping program to cover their crime?
  • Are there any email communications that indicate a potential IP theft?
  • Which devices were used to perform file transfers?

A screen showing malicious programs.

Proving IP Theft

To prove an IP theft, you need digital forensics data from social media platforms, mobile apps, and other digital platforms. While the data drawn from these devices may be diverse, it can allow cyber forensics experts to detect the breach’s time, date, and location. By hiring forensic experts to present your case in a court of law, you’ll better understand the significance of digital forensics in identifying IP theft.

If you’re looking for professional digital forensics consultants in Florida, we can help! At Eclipse Forensics, we handle audio, video, and court-certified forensics at affordable rates. Contact us today to avail our services.

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Options for Dealing with the Digital Forensics Backlog

Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies often face a daunting 10-20 month backlog due to a lack of personnel, resources, and storage. This pushes the digital evidence process back significantly. Sadly, the exponential growth of digital evidence and public budgets further delay the process, causing the backlog to last for a long time.

Is outsourcing digital forensic services the best option? Learn more about it through this blog:

1. Don’t Accept the Backlog.

You may accept that digital evidence processes will take several months to give you some actionable intelligence from a device seized at a crime scene. Unfortunately, doing nothing and waiting for the state labs to end the backlog will cost you more money in the long run. Furthermore, you’ll need more investigative resources and surveillance over time while waiting for the state crime labs to process the cell phone evidence. In this context, accepting the time taken to process digital evidence will only cost your firm several dollars and business opportunities.

2. In-house Digital Forensic Lab

While building your own in-house forensic lab may seem tempting, you must have enough time, money, and knowledge to process digital evidence accurately. Building a new lab isn’t the only thing needed to complete all the pending processes. You must also consult professional forensics engineers and data forensic experts to process the large amounts of digital evidence available in the form of voice recorders, cameras, flash drives, mobile phones, GPS devices, hard drives, and more. Thus, consider this option only if you’re certain you’ve gained a good understanding of the digital evidence processes.

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3. Outsource Digital Forensic Services  

Outsourcing cyber forensic services is an effective and quick way to address your backlog, especially for time-sensitive and complex cases. Fortunately, various cyber forensic experts willing to outsource their services to companies that need them. Professional digital forensic services have the right expertise and knowledge to deal with law enforcement and cross-examination in a court of law.

While many digital forensic engineers available, not all offer the same level of expertise and services as Eclipse Forensics. We are reliable court-certified forensics based in Florida that can help you address your backlog effectively. Contact us now for more details.

A flat-screen computer in a dark room.

Top 3 Mistakes Made On Scene with Digital Evidence

Digital devices have become so omnipresent that almost all crime scenes include at least one or more forms of digital evidence. While a proper digital forensics examination using these devices can solve a crime, it’s often the actions and decisions taken during evidence collection that determine whether the investigation would succeed or not.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes made with digital evidence on a crime scene:

1. Not Isolating the Digital Device from Networks

Securing a device at a crime scene helps cyber forensics experts analyze and investigate its data. However, if they fail to isolate the device from a wireless or a cellular network, the evidence it contains could be at risk.

A mobile that connects to a wireless or cellular network will continue to sync documents, emails, photos, and contacts with cloud-based services, destroying or corrupting digital evidence as a result. This enables the device’s owner to lock or wipe the digital evidence from the device remotely. Therefore, digital forensic experts must isolate mobile phones and laptops from Bluetooth, cellular, or wireless connectivity to examine them forensically.

A person using a laptop.

2. Powering on the PC

This is another grave mistake that most investigators make at the crime scene. Upon seizing a computer, you must not give in to the temptation of switching it on in search of evidence. That’s because once you log into a computer, it will check for software updates, run a virus check, connect to a network, and resume its background processes. Once the computer is connected to the Internet, the information it contains might be modified or deleted remotely.

Professional forensic engineers have the right equipment to analyze digital evidence without turning on the computer. Therefore, businesses must always hire experts to acquire and restore data.

3. Not Labeling Digital Evidence

Amateur investigators often fail to identify and label the various forms of digital evidence.  While a desktop computer might seem like a single device, expert digital forensics services will identify and label every single component of the device that stores data as digital evidence.

Contact Eclipse Forensics in Florida if you’re looking for professional and reliable digital forensics experts. Our team is highly-skilled and knowledgeable in processing, examining, and presenting digital evidence in a court of law. Call us today for more details.

A detective working on a case.

Reasons Why You Need a Digital Forensic Examiner

In the digital age, it’s important to know how to properly handle electronic evidence. Many crimes and legal cases are solved with the help of a forensic examiner, who is an expert in computer forensics and data recovery. If you’re not familiar with this term, here are some of the reasons why you need a digital forensic examiner.

Lost or Stolen Devices

If your phone or computer was lost or stolen, this could be used as evidence against you if you’re suspected of committing a crime. Your device may contain information about your whereabouts at certain times, as well as other personal information that can be used against you in court. A digital forensic examiner can access the contents of your device and determine what information can be recovered from it. This may include emails, text messages, photos, and videos that show where you were at certain times or with certain people.

Hacking Incidents

Hackers often target large companies and government agencies because they have valuable information stored on their servers and databases that they want to access for financial gain or bragging rights within their hacktivist community. These hackers can also attack individuals by breaking into their online accounts like social media sites and email accounts so they can steal personal data like credit card numbers or bank account passwords which can cause you a lot of loss. By working with a good digital forensic examiner, you will be able to bring such people to justice.

Help Needed to Maintain PR

You want to find out if someone has been posting slanderous comments about you online and want them removed from the internet as soon as possible before they damage your reputation even more than they already have done so far. When a business is in trouble, it’s not uncommon for the owner to call in the professionals to help. Those who are facing legal troubles from their actions need to know that they can rely on a digital forensic examiner to help them out.

 A person holding a sign that says, 'you've been hacked!'

Get the Best Digital Forensic Expert

If you’ve been accused of a crime or if you’re planning on taking legal action against someone else, then you need to know what your options are and how to proceed. By working with experienced digital forensics experts, you can bring your case to a fruitful and positive conclusion.

At Eclipse Forensics, our team of cyber forensic experts, audio forensic experts, and video forensic experts guides you throughout the testing period and helps you get the results you deserve.

Get in touch with us for more information.

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3 Myths About Digital Forensics

If you’re a fan of the crime genre, you must have seen a lot of TV shows and movies where the whole case gets resolved in a single episode. After watching a lot of similar content, people often believe that it’s true. However, they are fictional crime shows that barely show what happens behind closed doors.

When people are faced with a similar situation, they presume that it will be a matter of hours when the final verdict comes out, but there’s more to it. There are hundreds of myths existing in peoples’ minds that are necessary to be blown away. This post will find three myths that people commonly believe about digital forensics and how they are certainly not true.

Myth #1: It’s All About Computers

It was true in the beginning, but now digital forensics is no longer limited to computers. Digital forensics now include different areas of expertise, including hacking attempts and security breaches, devices, and other sub-fields such as database forensics, and so on.

Today, computing is not limited to screens–it has led to hyper-connected devices, IoT devices, GPS devices, smartphones, vehicles, and more. The evolution in technology has completely transformed the area of digital forensics.

Myth #2: Digital Forensics is for High-Profile Cases

A scientist working on a sample to collect data

Many people believe that digital forensics is only used in high-profile cases. In reality, the case does not have to be a huge theft, arson, or hack to involve forensics in it. The digital forensic experts work on all tech-savvy investigations regardless of their type. Digital forensics also helps companies and organizations with data recovery, IT security audits, privacy breaches, and forgeries.

Myth #3: Digital Forensics Solve the Case in Hours

The worst myth that you have heard about is that digital forensics resolves the case in a few hours or days. It takes a lot of time to gather the data, investigating it, decoding data, etc., so it’s barely possible to give results in hours or days. Every case is different with different levels of complexities, so you cannot expect them to be resolved in an allotted time.

Hire Digital Forensic Expert in FL Now

If you’re in search of digital forensic services in FL, then we’re here to assist you with it. We are the cyber forensic expert in FL with years of experience in the field. Get in touch with us today to discuss your case more.

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Digital Forensics: What Is It?

What is Digital Forensics?

Digital forensics is the field of forensic science techniques that are based on recovering and investigating data from digital devices used in crimes—primarily cybercrimes. The word digital forensics was coined to replace the word computer forensics.  It has been broadened to include the analysis of any gadgets that may store digital data. Even though the first cybercrime was documented in 1978, and the Florida Computer Act was passed the following year, it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that the phrase computer crime became widely known. Government initiatives on digital forensics did not arise until the early twenty-first century.

The method involves identifying, conserving, evaluating, and recording digital evidence. This is done so that the evidence can be presented in a criminal court if required for a particular case.

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