Executive summary
The construction of a computer forensic laboratory is a complicated task. There are many requirements that will be needed so that accurate processes are undertaken. This is something that companies take with utmost care in order to have the latest technologies and current trends in the design and configuration. This paper will focus on the requirements that are needed in order to construct a forensic laboratory. The requirements involve such issues as the environmental concerns, security of evidence, management and the process of preservation of evidence. These are the issues and processes that should be protected. There will also be concerns of finances.
Introduction
There are various issues that come into play when constructing a computer forensic laboratory. The issues that come into play include planning, moving, construction, and the design stage. Each phase differs from the other phase. It is a requirement that all these phases take into consideration.
Budget proposals
There will be the requirements for the cost that will be incurred in the process of development and building of a forensic laboratory. The costs will include both hardware and labor costs. This section will undertake an overview of these costs and will analyze the costs that will be incurred in the course of undertaking the project.
Hardware costs
The hardware costs that will be incurred in the process of undertaking the project include the following:
The building materials that are included in the laboratory will be used to build the sections that will be added in the building and the creation of the laboratory. There will be many sections on the creation of the laboratory.
Cables for data transfer and blank hard drives for storages of data as well as hardware write blockers would be essential for the task ahead. Hard drive duplicators for forensic imaging and data acquisition are also needed for the task (Kruse, & Heiser, 2002). Some other tools that would prove more valuable would include password removal software and equipment
With the purchase of the computer hardware, there will be the need to decide the type of computer cases which will be used in the laboratory. There is a need to have the computer that will support most operating systems that are in use today. This will help to cover any cases that will be examined in the laboratory. There will also be the need to ensure that the computer software will be installed ad supported by many computer platforms, both hardware and software.
The costs have been catered for including the changes that will take place in technology. There are changes that will be expected to take place in technology. With computer forensics, there are many changes that are expected to take place. This will have to be included in the process. This information will be used to plan for the costs and the expenses which will be met in the course of the building of the computer forensic laboratory. The cost that has been stated in the initial costs indicates that most of them will take some time before they are met again. It will take quite some time before all the materials are incurred again. This means that the costs will remain that way for a long time.
There will be a need to check the specific software that will be used for the specified crimes that will be handled in the computer laboratory. Given that this is specifications for a private organization, there a need to check hardware inventory, the problems that have been reported in the previous years, future trends in computing technology. One of the crucial issues that need to be checked when purchasing hardware and software is time management. The computer laboratory will have to have computer operating systems that will use various operating systems. This will enable wide analysis and crime detection from wide computer platform. The budget that is undertaken will have four operating systems: Windows, Linux, iPad and Macintosh operating systems.
Legal requirements
Computer forensics is a growing branch in the field of computer science and information technology. Occasionally, organizations, big or small, would require an audit of their information systems. This is where the computer forensics experts come in. For the setting of a computer forensic laboratory, there are legal requirements that should be able to meet so that it can operate legally. All the data should be legal and allowed by law to be held. Metadata is important to computer forensics because it gives a clear indication of the environment and particulars associated with any data. The contents and quality of data can be determined by description of the same. A good example is a description describing the language in which data stored in a database is written in, the tools that were used to create files and when the files were created. Metadata also provides information relating to rights and administrative access to documents and data. This is most useful in determination of the people who has access to data any particular time. The most important cybercrime law that is available today is that pertaining substantive cybercrime. These are the laws that do prohibit individuals in undertaking online identity theft. This is the section 18 U.S.C & 1028A. The law states that this is the laws that is concerned with fraud or related activities like documents that are used for identification, features that are used for identification, and information. This is an important cybercrime law because, if implemented well, will help fraudsters from using other people information and identification to defraud the internet users. Many of the cybercrime is committed due to the ability of the cybercrime offenders to impersonate some real entity and defraud internet (information systems) users. This should be enforced to eradicate this type of cybercrime. This cybercrime law targets the people who impersonate an entity with the intention of getting a favor that they would otherwise not get without this identification. Many of the cybercrime is committed due to the ability of the cybercrime offenders to impersonate some real entity and defraud internet (information systems) users. This should be enforced to eradicate this type of cybercrime. This cybercrime law targets the people who impersonate an entity with the intention of getting a favor that they would otherwise not get without this identification. The laws that will be used as a guide in the development of a computer forensics laboratory.
- Threshold considerations - computer forensic laboratory should be able to operate and produce evidence that is admissible in court. For this to be possible, there is a need to have equipment that will guarantee accurate and can be trusted in a court ruling. It is common for digital data to be duplicated without leaving any trace.
- Admissibility of the evidence presented - the digital evidence is required to survive the Daubert challenge. The changing trends I information technology makes admissibility legal requirement a crucial issue which should be met. This something which should be looked into when designing a computer forensic laboratory.
- There will be certifications which will also be regarded and taken to be legal requirements. These certifications will help to carry out the operations.
Continuing operations overview
After the computer forensics laboratory has been set, there will be operations which will be continuous. Information technology is dynamic. There are many changes that take place in information and communications technology. Computer maintenance is one of the operations that will need to be undertaken continuously. Another computer operation that will be undertaken continuously is upgrading and purchasing of forensic software. This is because computer software and information systems in general keep on changing. Because hackers are aware of this fact, they tend to use the most recent methods to commit crimes. It is important to use modern information systems. Upgrading or reinstalling forensic software is, therefore, a continuous process.
Conclusion
The design process and design should follow the modern design. The technologies that will be used in the building will have to be recent ones so that the crime that will be analyzed will follow the current trends in technology. It is common for criminals in the digital world to use the latest technologies to commit crime. The latest technologies should be used in the analysis. Computer forensics is a growing branch in the field of computer science and information technology. Occasionally, organizations, big or small, would require an audit of their information systems. This is where the computer forensics experts come in. For the setting of a computer forensic laboratory, there are legal requirements that should be able to meet so that it can operate legally. All the data should be legal and allowed by law to be held. Metadata is important to computer forensics because it gives a clear indication of the environment and particulars associated with any data. The contents and quality of data can be determined by description of the same.
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