Please Note: MSU MEMO is archived as a part of Mississippi State University's history. Articles may refer to situations which have changed or people who are no longer affiliated with the university.
 |
April 22, 2002 Volume 26, Issue 34 |
It's not the way Sherlock Holmes or even Columbo solved crimes, but today's high-tech detectives are using computer forensics to catch criminals.
"Forensics is the methodical study of evidence, and computer forensics takes the same approach and applies it to computers," said David Dampier, an assistant professor of computer science at Mississippi State University. "It's a rapidly developing field with important applications in the areas of national security, consumer protection and criminal investigations."
Dampier is one of about a dozen MSU faculty members developing the university's Center for Computer Security Research. Located in Butler Hall, the facility includes a lab equipped for forensics teaching and research.
"The lab has an isolated network of computers that can be used for attack and defend drills," Dampier said. "It also is equipped with the software and other tools to research new computer forensics techniques."
The need for high-tech sleuthing by law enforcement is the result of computer use in virtually every aspect of life, including criminal activities.
"A lot of computers are used in drug operations because the dealers keep records just like other businessmen," Dampier said. "The other major criminal activity involving widespread use of computers is child pornography."
He added that investigators using computer forensics techniques can find evidence of such activity, even though steps have been taken to erase it.
"Just because something is deleted from a hard drive doesn't mean that it's gone; it just means that the pointer to it is gone," he said. "The first thing you want to do is freeze the system so no one has the opportunity to attempt to destroy evidence. In that respect, computer forensics is not so different from the forensics police have long used when they seal off a crime scene and then search for evidence."
The MSU computer security lab also is equipped to train students to track down hackers who attack computer systems.
"The routers used to send messages across the Internet store the same type of information as computers," Dampier said. "You can use that information to locate hackers."
Terrorism also is a target of computer forensics, according to Rayford Vaughn, an associate professor of computer science and a member of the MSU computer security team.
"MSU's recent designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency recognizes that the university has reached a high level of success in the area of computer security," he said. "That expertise can be applied to state and regional security initiatives against terrorism, as well as providing highly trained graduates to the NSA and other federal agencies."