Catching Criminals with Computer Science

Daniel Ayers, PhD Student

Elementary Solutions Ltd

Tue May 20 13:10:00 NZST 2008 in Room 315, Erskine Building

Abstract

Computer Forensics is a relatively new discipline involving the identification and analysis of evidence within computer data. It is frequently used by law enforcement, private investigators and corporate security departments to investigate matters where suspicious activity has taken place on a computer, or where there is evidence of such activity on a computer. In law enforcement, computer forensics is a standard feature of most serious criminal investigations – including murders. In the corporate world, computer forensics is used to investigate employee misdeeds such as information theft, use of pornography at work, breach of contract and sexual harassment.

The first part of this seminar will introduce the field of computer forensics and demonstrate its application using real (but often anonymous) case studies. The second part will explore the role of academic research in the field, and highlight some of the interesting problems. Finally, there will be a brief description of the presenter’s PhD project – currently being undertaken in the Department.

Biography

Daniel Ayers holds Honours and Masters degrees in Computer Science from the University of Canterbury. He has eleven years experience giving expert evidence in criminal and civil cases. He was a Crown computer expert in R v Garrett, one of New Zealand’s first trials for computer hacking. He has conducted hundreds of computer forensic investigations, including international cases involving losses of many millions of dollars. In 2003 Daniel created software to assist with the reconstruction of past activity on computer systems. This software was licensed to more than 100 organisations around the world. In December 2004 an FBI computer forensics lab asked Daniel to modify his software to help their investigation into the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was nine months pregnant when she was murdered and her unborn baby kidnapped. He is based in Auckland and is the owner of computer forensic company Elementary Solutions. Daniel has recently enrolled as a PhD candidate in the Department. His topic is Integrated Techniques for the Rapid Analysis of Heterogeneous Non-Documentary Computer Forensic Evidence.