Digital Commons Network^™

Following The Lead Of Barack Obama, Cnn, And Ashton Kutcher: Police Departments’ Use Of Twitter, Mari Sakiyama, Amanda Hurst, Omar Melchor, Daniel Shields, Deborah K. Shaffer, Joel D. Lieberman

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

An increasing number of police departments are using Twitter to communicate with the public. As with any emerging communications technology, there is considerable variation in the usage of this medium. This study reports the results of a content analysis designed to determine how police departments are using Twitter.

Burglary Trends In Nevada, 1990-2007, Theresa Wilk, Terance D. Miethe, Timothy C. Hart

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Burglary involves the unlawful breaking and entering into a home or other building with the intent to steal something within it. Nationally, about 2.2 million burglaries were known to the police in 2007 (UCR, 2007). Over the last two decades, Nevada’s burglary rate is consistently higher than the national average. There are many consequences of burglary as well as efforts to control these offenses. The presentation of this state data brief describes patterns of burglary in Nevada and compares them with national trends. It examines the prevalence of burglary over time, the different types of burglary and its offense attributes, …

Graduate Accounting Students' Perception Of It Forensics: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis, Grover S. Kearns

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Forensics and information technology (IT) have become increasingly important to accountants and auditors. Undergraduate accounting students are introduced to general IT topics but discussion of forensic knowledge is limited. A few schools have introduced an undergraduate major in forensic accounting. Some graduate schools offer accounting students an emphasis in forensic or fraud accounting that includes instruction in forensics and information technology. When students do not view the IT topics as being equally important to their careers as traditional accounting topics, these attitudes may reduce the quality of the course. In an effort to assess student attitudes, a survey of 46 …

The Virtual Digital Forensics Lab - Expanding Law Enforcement Capabilities, Mark Mccoy, Sean A. Ensz

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Law enforcement is attempting to respond to the growing and complex need to examine all manner of digital evidence using stand-alone forensic workstations and limited storage solutions. Digital forensic investigators often find their cases stalled by cumbersome and inflexible technology limiting their effectiveness. The Virtual Digital Forensics Lab (VDFL) is a new concept that applies existing enterprise host, storage, and network virtualization technologies to current forensic investigative methods. This paper details the concept of the VDFL, the technology solutions it employs, and the flexibility it provides for digital forensic investigators.

Keywords: Virtual Digital Forensics, digital forensic investigations, law enforcement, virtual …

Digital Forensic Certification Versus Forensic Science Certification, Nena Lim

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Companies often rely on certifications to select appropriate individuals in disciplines such as accounting and engineering. The general public also tends to have confidence in a professional who has some kinds of certification because certification implies a standard of excellence and that the individual has expert knowledge in a specific discipline. An interesting question to the digital forensic community is: How is a digital forensic certification compared to a forensic science certification? The objective of this paper is to compare the requirements of a digital forensic certification to those of a forensic science certification. Results of the comparison shed lights …

Textbooks For Computer Forensic Courses: A Preliminary Study, Jigang Liu, Larry Gottschalk, Kuodi Jian

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

As computer forensics develops into one of the fastest-growing areas in the computer related fields, many universities and colleges are offering or are planning to offer a course in computer forensics. When instructors begin to develop a new course in the area, one of critical questions they would ask is what textbook should be used. To better answer the question, we conducted a study in which we tried to find which textbooks are being used in computer forensic courses. We believe that the results and analysis of our study will help instructors in choosing adequate textbooks for their new course …

The Case For Teaching Network Protocols To Computer Forensics Examiners, Gary C. Kessler, Matt Fasulo

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Most computer forensics experts are well-versed in basic computer hardware technology, operating systems, common software applications, and computer forensics tools. And while many have rudimentary knowledge about the Internet and simple network-lookup tools, they are not trained in the analysis of network communication protocols and the use of packet sniffers. This paper describes digital forensics applications for network analysis and includes four case studies.

Keywords: computer forensics education, network forensics, protocol analysis

Education For Cyber Crime Investigators, David Greer, Joe Mulenex, John Hale, Gavin W. Manes

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital forensics and cyber crime investigations are continually growing, rapidly changing fields requiring law enforcement agencies to meet very rigorous training requirements. New opportunities for committing criminal activity against persons, organization or property are presented every day with the proliferation of personal digital devices, computers, the internet, computer networks, and automated data systems. Whether the crime involves attacks against computer systems, electronic information, or more traditional crimes such as murder, money laundering or fraud, electronic evidence is becoming more prevalent. It is no surprise that law enforcement and criminal justice officials are being overwhelmed by the volume of investigations and …

The Evolution Of Internet Legal Regulation In Addressing Crime And Terrorism, Murdoch Watney

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Internet regulation has evolved from self-regulation to the criminalization of conduct to state control of information available, accessed and submitted. Criticism has been leveled at the different forms of state control and the methods employed to enforce state control. After the terrorist attack on the USA on 11 September 2001, governments justify Internet state control as a law enforcement and national security tool against the abuse and misuse of the Internet for the commission of serious crimes, such as phishing, child pornography; terrorism and copyright infringement. Some Internet users and civil rights groups perceive state control as an abomination which …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Computer Mediated Communications On Cyberstalking Severity, Stephen D. Barnes, David P. Biros

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The interaction between disjunctive interpersonal relationships, those where the parties to the relationship disagree on the goals of the relationship, and the use of computer mediated communications channels is a relatively unexplored domain. Bargh (2002) suggests that CMC channels can amplify the development of interpersonal relationships, and notes that the effect is not constant across communications activities. This proposal suggests a line of research that explores the interaction between computer mediated communications (CMC) and stalking, which is a common form of disjunctive relationships. Field data from cyberstalking cases will be used to look at the effects of CMC channels on …

Paper Session Iv: Development And Delivery Of Coursework - The Legal/Regulatory/Policy Environment Of Cyberforensics, John W. Bagby, John C. Ruhnka

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes a cyber-forensics course that integrates important public policy and legal issues as well as relevant forensic techniques. Cyber-forensics refers to the amalgam of multi-disciplinary activities involved in the identification, gathering, handling, custody, use and security of electronic files and records, involving expertise from the forensic domain, and which produces evidence useful in the proof of facts for both commercial and legal activities. The legal and regulatory environment in which electronic discovery takes place is of critical importance to cyber-forensics experts because the legal process imposes both constraints and opportunities for the effective use of evidence gathered through …

Paper Session Iv: Toward Understanding Digital Forensics As A Profession: Defining Curricular Needs (***Research In Process ***), Michelle Wolf, Alan Shafer, Michael Gendron

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This research paper presents research in process which attempts to define the common body of knowledge (CBK) of digital forensics. Digital forensics is not well defined not does it have a generally accepted CBK. The first three phases of completed research, in a four-phase research process are discussed. The early results have created a preliminary CBK, and final validation is underway.