Forensic Investigation Processes for Cyber Crime and Cyber Space

Computers are an integral part of our life. A significant percentage of today’s transactions and processes take place using the computer and Internet. People have readily adopted Internet technology and innocently trust it while using it with the ignorance of the limitations and threats to the system security. With the advance of technology, equally or more advanced form of crimes started emerging. Different types of cyber attacks from various sources may adversely affect computers, software, a network, an agency’s operations, an industry, or the Internet itself. Thus companies and their products aim to take assistance of legal and computer forensics. Digital forensics deals with computer-based evidence to determine who, what, where, when, and how crimes are being committed. Computer and network forensics has evolved to assure proper presentation of cyber crime evidentiary data into court. Forensic tools and techniques are an integral part of criminal investigations used to investigate suspect systems, gathering and preserving evidence, reconstructing or simulating the event, and assessing the current state of an event. In this paper we deliberate on two aspects; first, various types of crimes in the cyber space and various sources of cyber attacks, and second, investigation processes for various cyber attacks with the help of digital forensic tools like WinHex [1].