Abstract
The dynamic nature of crime in modern society has transformed the way in which criminal activities are executed and has led to increment in cyber and computer related criminal activities. Due to the soaring increases in cyber crimes, various states have put more emphasis on computer forensics as a means of protecting and curbing such crimes.
While computer forensics have played a major role in reducing cases of cyber terrorism and corporate crimes in most countries, the process have faced major challenges which emanate from data accuracy and associated costs of storage, searching and indexing as well as the efficiency of data retrieved using various techniques.
The study addresses one of challenges faced by computer forensic experts, retrieval of audio information. While corporate entities and other organizations struggle to identify the relevant data that needs to be preserved and the associated costs, the technology used by forensic experts to retrieve such information are often inaccurate and inefficient which minimizes the strength of such evidence in court.
Introduction
Advanced technology in the modern society has contributed to the increase in computer and computer supported criminal activities due to the soaring increases in the number of internet users across the world and computerization of business processes which has created opportunities for computer criminals and terrorists to execute crimes.
Numerous studies have revealed that crimes such as cyber attacks, hacking, and other computer based criminal activities have been costing business organizations and governments a considerable amount of money each year which has prompted the development of Computer forensics to preserve, identify, extract, and document computer evidence. Computer forensics can be defined as the process through which information is extracted from a computer crime scene while guaranteeing its accuracy and reliability through retrieval and storage as data or magnetically encoded information.
Literature Review
Audio files present a major challenge for computer forensics during the criminal justice process. Data presented in form of email, instant messaging, faxes, text messages, data derived from business computer applications as well as voice messages sent through network avenues and digital devices are commonly used in business organizations due to their ability to cut down costs (Vacca, 2005). However, on occurrence of computer related crimes, such voice based files may be difficult and expensive for computer forensic experts to retrieve.
Although numerous systems have been put in place to facilitate storage and indexing of data within organizations, these systems are very expensive which prompts companies to outsource the role to other companies (Caloyannides, 2009).
Furthermore, despite the fact that the tools for searching and storing data are often effective and accurate, with audio data, such levels of accuracy and efficiency have not yet been achieved. Indeed, the three current means of searching audio data; phonetic search, transcribing by hand, and automatic transcription (Ewechia, 2011) have been found lacking to some extent.
Phonetic search technology extracts audio information through wave patterns and often results in false hits due to the wide variations in people’s mode of speech, accent, pronunciation and dialectics. In addition, this method does not have the ability to transcribe audio messages into texts and hence solely relies on the hearing ability of experts and other concerned stakeholders (Ewechia, 2011).
Manual transcription of audio data which facilitates in conversion of audio messages to text is effective but its time consuming since it depends upon the listener to transcribe the words as they are hear which makes the process more labor extensive hence expensive. Machine transcription, which is an automated means converting audio data to text, is a faster means of retrieving audio data but it suffers from accuracy issues emanating from factors such as differing pronunciation and clarity of recordings (Ewechia, 2011).
New federal rules of civil procedures have been put in place to ensure that companies identify key communications and data sources which should then be saved for future references. As requirement for retention of data increases, identifying the type of data to be preserved has become a major challenge for organizations which impacts on future data availability.
In addition, computer forensic experts are expected to prove beyond reasonable doubt that that the information they have extracted through these methods is exactly as it was on the computer or other digital device in order to guarantee accuracy and reliability (Lucas & Moeller, 2004). Failure to guarantee such aspects in audio data reduce the strength of evidence hence decreasing the likelihood of success in a court of law.
Conclusion
Computer forensics has become an increasingly important component in the fight against crimes. This is primarily due to its ability to retrieve, and present the data required for criminal investigations in a clear and precise form. The data retrieved through computer forensic technology has played a major role in availing evidence which has provided lead to many cases and has also prevented cases of false incrimination.
Despite the challenges that the process faces, the technology continues to evolve and advance as time progresses. We can only anticipate a future where more advanced methods of data retrieval will be developed in order to guarantee accuracy and validity of such data.
Reference List
Caloyannides, A. M. (2004). Privacy Protection and Computer Forensics. Massachusetts: Artech House.
Ewechia, (2011). Audio Files Present Challenges for Computer Forensics and E-Discovery. Web.
Moeller, B., & Lucas, J. (2004). The Effective Incident Response Team. New York: Addison-Wesley.
Vacca, R. J., (2005). Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation Vo. 1. New York: Cengage Learning.