In today’s digital world, computer crime and computer forensics are two closely related fields that both involve computers and technology, yet have some key differences. Computer crime refers to illegal cyber activities that target computer systems, networks, programs, or data. This can include hacking, malware, phishing, identity theft, copyright infringement, and more. Computer forensics is the application of investigative and analytical techniques to examine digital evidence and track cybercriminal activities. While computer criminals break laws using technology, computer forensics experts work to uncover these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.
What is computer crime?
Computer crime, also known as cybercrime, refers to any illegal activities carried out using computers, networks, or hardware devices. These crimes typically involve unauthorized access to computer systems, data theft or destruction, denial-of-service attacks, and virtual crimes like cyberbullying or distribution of illegal content. Some major types of computer crimes include:
Hacking
Hacking involves illegally gaining access to computer systems or networks to steal data, install malware, or cause disruption. Hackers may exploit security vulnerabilities or use brute force methods to bypass defenses.
Malware
Malware refers to malicious software programs like viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware that infect devices and systems, steal data, or take control of operations. They can spread through downloads, infected websites, or phishing scams.
Phishing
Phishing uses fraudulent emails or websites posing as trustworthy sources to trick users into revealing personal information like passwords or banking details that criminals can then use to access accounts and funds.
Identity theft
Identity theft occurs when criminals steal someone’s personal or financial information to impersonate them and make transactions or purchases in their name. This is often achieved using phishing or hacking.
Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks
DoS attacks overwhelm websites or networks with traffic to make resources unavailable to intended users. These attacks aim to disrupt operations and services.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying uses digital communications like social media, messaging, or emails to harass, threaten, or humiliate others. Though less technical, cyberbullying can cause serious psychological harm.
Copyright infringement
Downloading, sharing, or distributing copyrighted software, media, or materials electronically without permission breaches copyrights and is illegal. This includes pirating media, software, and counterfeiting trademarks.
Though motives and methods vary, these crimes all use computer technology to commit infractions, cause damage, or gain financially. Perpetrators include individual hackers, organized cybercriminal groups, and state-sponsored actors. Prosecution and penalties depend on the crime, jurisdiction, and scale of damage.
What is computer forensics?
While computer crime centers on misusing technology for illegal ends, computer forensics focuses on retrieving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence for investigations and legal proceedings. Computer forensics experts examine computer systems, networks, storage devices, and more that contain digital evidence to uncover details of cybersecurity incidents like data breaches, cyberattacks, or technology-facilitated crimes. Key areas in computer forensics include:
Digital evidence recovery
Forensics investigators use specialized techniques and software tools to identify, preserve, recover, and analyze electronic data from various devices and sources that can serve as evidence.
Digital data analysis
Recovered files, communications, images, internet history, and other electronic data are carefully analyzed to reconstruct timelines, uncover motives, identify cybercriminals, establish intent, and reveal other crime details.
Digital forensic reporting
Investigation findings are comprehensively documented to produce forensic reports that describe the methodology, discoveries, recovered evidence, and conclusions to establish facts for legal proceedings.
Expert witness testimony
As subject matter experts, forensic investigators also serve as technical witnesses providing testimony explaining digital evidence, analysis techniques, and findings to courts of law.
While crimes are committed using technology, computer forensics leverages that same technology to uncover incriminating evidence and activity patterns. Forensic capabilities are crucial for investigating cybercrimes, insider data theft, hacks, and many other offenses involving computers, networks, or internet-connected devices.
Key Differences Between Computer Crime and Computer Forensics
Though related fields, computer crime and forensics have some distinct differences:
Motive and Goals
Computer criminals aim to use technology to steal, disrupt, or harm for personal profit or other gains. Forensics investigators work to detect these crimes and identify perpetrators to assist law enforcement and the justice system.
Actions
Criminals directly compromise security, steal data, spread malware, or commit virtual offenses. Forensics involves evidence recovery, analysis, and reporting to support investigations rather than disrupt systems.
Methods
Criminals may use hacking, malware, social engineering, and other ingenious technical schemes to accomplish illegal goals. Forensics utilizes stringent, methodical processes to capture and examine digital evidence legally and ethically.
Legality
Computer crimes violate laws and statutes. Computer forensics follows standardized procedures and legal protocols for evidence handling and investigations.
Skills
Cybercriminals wield technical skills to identify vulnerabilities and evade detection. Forensics requires specialized expertise in data collection, recovery, analysis, and investigation techniques.
Tools
Criminals create or use malicious tools like malware, spyware, and hacking scripts. Investigators utilize forensic toolkits for legally sound evidence acquisition from digital devices and platforms.
Side of Law
Criminals operate outside the law. Forensics experts work within the law, aiding police and legal authorities.
While criminals leverage technical skills for illegal activities, computer forensics channels similar knowledge into investigating cybercrimes and bringing perpetrators to justice through methodical evidence-based processes.
Computer Forensics Process and Methodology
Computer forensics investigations generally follow structured workflows comprising planning, evidence handling, analysis, and reporting stages:
Planning
Investigators assess systems and incidents to determine scope, identify involved devices, formulate strategies, obtain authorization, assemble equipment, and prepare documentation.
Evidence Acquisition
Forensics teams isolate suspect devices, retrieve data using court-approved methods, securely store evidence copies, verify integrity checks, and maintain chain of custody records.
Analysis
Recovered data is processed, reviewed, and analyzed using various tools and techniques to uncover important activity patterns, timelines, communications, files, and other incriminating artifacts.
Reporting and Presentation
Investigators produce comprehensive forensic reports documenting the methodology, observations, supporting evidence, findings, and conclusions for legal proceedings. Experts may also testify explaining technical details.
Thorough planning, evidence handling protocols, analysis techniques, and reporting standards allow computer forensics teams to conduct rigorous investigations that yield legally admissible evidence and findings.
Forensic Analysis Techniques and Tools
Computer forensics practitioners utilize diverse tools and methods for evidence recovery and analysis:
Imaging and Hashing
Forensic imaging captures complete sector-level copies of storage devices. Hashing generates unique identifiers for evidence to authenticate integrity.
File Recovery
Specialized utilities recover deleted files or reconstruct damaged and encrypted volumes using file headers, patterns, and metadata.
Metadata Analysis
Metadata like file timestamps, GPS coordinates, or document author information yields insights into data origins and usage.
Data Decryption
Investigators leverage cracking tools and techniques like brute force to decrypt encoded data for viewing when keys or passwords are unavailable.
Network Analysis
Packet sniffers, traffic analyzers, and protocol analyzers capture and assess network communications to recreate events and timelines.
Cloud Analysis
Online platform APIs and specialized tools access, preserve, and analyze data held in cloud application accounts and storage services.
Mobile Forensics
Dedicated mobile forensic tools extract and parse data from smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices including contacts, texts, geolocation, apps, files, and call logs.
Database Analysis
Database contents are extracted and analyzed to uncover passwords, configuration data, activity logs, and other relevant structured information.
By combining multiple techniques, investigators can recreate incident timelines, establish intent, identify offenders, and reconstruct crimes.
Role of Computer Forensics in Cyber Investigations
As cybercrime proliferates globally, computer forensics is playing a crucial role supporting diverse investigations and legal proceedings:
Corporate crime and fraud
Forensics helps uncover insider data theft, embezzlement schemes, financial fraud, and intellectual property theft through detailed digital evidence analysis.
Criminal cyberattacks
Forensic investigators analyze malware, hacked systems, and breach artifacts to trace attack origins, methods, and prevent future incidents.
Law enforcement
Law enforcement agencies leverage forensics to collect court-admissible evidence during investigations into hacking, online scams, identity theft, and child exploitation cases.
Internal investigations
Forensics helps resolve unauthorized activity or policy violations by assessing internal system logs, email communications, and network activity.
Civil litigation
Digital evidence proves or refutes claims during lawsuits involving employment issues, contracts, trusts and wills, or harassment.
Data breach response
Forensics experts identify causes, compromised data, and scope of breaches via cloud services, malware, lost devices or insiders to guide mitigation.
Information security
Forensic principles guide event logging, monitoring, evidence gathering, and response plans to bolster information security and data protections.
The ability to retrieve, analyze, interpret, and preserve complex digital evidence is indispensable for investigating modern cybercrimes while maintaining evidentiary standards, legal compliance, and process integrity.
Conclusion
In summary, while computer crime centers on misusing technology for illegal activities, computer forensics leverages specialized investigative techniques to uncover digital evidence and trace cybercriminal actions. Forensics follows lawful data collection, analysis, and handling protocols to support law enforcement and protect victims. Key distinctions include opposing motives, methods, tools, and legality stances. As technology proliferates, computer forensics capabilities and experts will continue growing in importance for resolving cybercrimes and securing computer systems.