Computer Forensics: Donut-Eating Cops turn to Cookies to solve Crime.

The stereotype that all cops love donuts is about to get turned on its head. It’s all about cookies these days. I’m not talking about the chocolate chip variety though, I’m talking about internet cookies. An internet “cookie,” is a piece of text that a Web server can store on a user’s hard disk. Cookies allow a Web site to store information on a user’s machine and later retrieve it.

What is Computer Forensics?

These digital files are a new tool in the arsenal of cops and criminal investigators everywhere. This branch of the criminal justice industry is known as “Computer Forensics” and it focuses on evidence pertaining to crimes that is found through digital files. Digital evidence can take the form of an email, photo, disk, fax or a cell phone record.

Thanks to technology, individuals engaged in illegal activities including credit-card fraud, intellectual property theft, terrorism, human trafficking and hacking are now being caught through their digital tracks.

Computer Forensics Jobs

Jobs in computer forensics are growing and available in both the private and public sector. Several universities have taken notice and added these types of programs to their curriculum, ITT Tech is a pioneer in this area. Students with a criminal justice degree and computer and/or web training have a competitive edge.

High Profile Computer Forensics Cases

There have been a few high-profile crimes that have been solved using computer forensics skills. Chandra Levy was a Washington DC intern who frequently used the internet and authorities were able to use information gathered from her files to lead them to search Rock Creek Park, where her body was found a year later.

Another case involved Dennis Rader (aka BTK Killer) the infamous serial killer who started sending letters to local police on a floppy disk. Digital data within the floppy disk referred to an author named Dennis at Christ Lutheran Church and this evidence helped lead to Rader’s arrest.

Fighting Crime One Click at a Time

Now criminal justice officials can alert people faster than they ever have been able to before. If a mugger is on the loose in Queens, residents can be alerted via the internet in the amount of time it takes to type a few keystrokes and a click. The internet also provides a way for people to provide tips to police with a degree of anonymity.

It all boils down to this: We are seeing an increased use of the internet and computers and with that comes an increase in cybercrimes. The only way to balance this equation is to increase our knowledge and tactics to fight cybercrime via computer forensics.

For more information on criminal justice programs or computer forensics visit My Colleges and Careers.