COMPUTER FORENSICS

Computer Forensics or Forensic Computer Analysis is often and best described as the ‘recovery and examination of material held on a computer’.

Computers are now commonplace in the criminal law process and as such play a key role in the preparation of a prosecution or defence case. It has been shown over many thousands of criminal cases that evidence recovered from computers can provide the ‘smoking gun’ for prosecutors, but can also provide crucial information such as alibi evidence. Our role is to recover this data.

What we do

During the course of forensic analysis of a computer, a forensically sound copy of the data is created either by the Police or ourselves and it is this forensic copy which is used for the purpose of analysis. We always work in accordance with the Guidelines laid down by ACPO (the Association of Chief Police Officers) “no data should ever be changed on the original exhibit”.

Examples of what we can reasonably expect to recover during analysis are:

• Details of the Operating System, User Accounts, Installed Software and Time Zones
• Documents in various formats
• Internet history
• Chat logs
• Email
• Webmail
• Pictures and video
• Web pages
• Relevant times and dates
• Specific user actions
• Usernames and passwords

Computer Peripheral Analysis

It can be surprising to learn how much data can be stored and subsequently recovered from a peripheral device such as a USB memory stick. In general terms, 1 GB of data on a USB memory stick represents approximately ’12.5 filing cabinets of paper’ or 600 reams. With this in mind, we can see that the analysis of additional items seized during the course of a prosecution is absolutely essential.

Additionally, it is possible to store written data on more unconventional types of media such as MP3 players and mobile telephones.

CCTV Recovery

This service involves the forensic recovery of footage from the plethora of CCTV security systems available in today’s market. CCTV systems record onto many models of VHS, DVD, CD and Computer HDD. The evidence recorded on to these systems plays a part in many criminal cases, where a person or persons have been recorded by the CCTV in a place at a time which is material to the case.

We are able to recover all of the data held on these devices, or simply particular aspects, such as ‘only camera 4’ or ‘between 12:00 and 14:00’.

The recovered data can be presented in a number of different formats, including DVD, VHS and even printed stills.

CCTV Enhancement

The enhancement of images or stills that have been captured from a CCTV system can play a major part in a criminal case; and the ability to take an image and enhance it without damaging the original integrity of the image is one of the skills possessed by Synergy Forensics Ltd. It might be deemed that the case demands a closer inspection, for example to try and establish if drugs were passed from one person to another or to establish if a person has characteristics such as tattoos.