tagged w/ Forensics
-
-
-
-
When it comes to digital crime, the evidence is often at the byte level, deep in the magnetics of digital media, invisible to the human eye. That is just one of the challenges of digital forensics, where it is easy to destroy crucial evidence and often difficult to preserve it correctly...
https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/16705-Digital-Evidence-and-Computer-Crime.htmlWhen it comes to digital crime, the evidence is often at the byte level, deep in the... more
-
-
Street Soldiers Radio
Forensics: The Value of Words
Video, Ann Bassette,
May 16, 2010
Editor's Note: The Logan High School Forensics team stepped inside of Street Soldiers studio to talk about the dynamics of debating. Ann Bassette is a senior producer for YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia
www.youthoutlook.org
www.streetsoldiers.orgStreet Soldiers Radio
Forensics: The Value of Words
Video, Ann Bassette,
May 16,... more
-
-
Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes reveal it comes in stunning colors and shapes -- and travels remarkably well. Jonathan Drori gives an up-close glimpse of these fascinating flecks of plant courtship.Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes... more
-
-
The new 'CSI-style' simulator at the The University of Glamorgan was opened/named after Sir Bernard Knight, a crime novelist and a forensic scientist for some notorious murder scenes.
The simulator is built like a normal house that will host a range of reconstructed suspicious or unexplained crime scenes. This will allow students to gain a better understanding and experience in investigating such cases.
Knight stated that we all tend to act like experts on forensic science because of the CSI phenomenon, resulting in the jurors expecting "more categorical proof than science will allow for, and criminals are better prepared than ever before." therefore, by opening a training simulator the high level of crime investigation needed can be increased through education.
"Sir Bernard said that Wales could lead the way in training the next generation of Scene of Crime Officers."The new 'CSI-style' simulator at the The University of Glamorgan was... more
-
-
"decribes the foundations of forensic medicine in the U.S., when toxicology was in its infancy, and lethal poisons like cyanide were readily available and largely undetectable."
by Deborah Blum
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/03/05"decribes the foundations of forensic medicine in the U.S., when toxicology was... more
-
-
When someone talks about forensic science, generally one doesn’t immediately think of medical dramas. Instead, crime-scene procedurals like CSI tend to leap to mind, or even shows with a more peripheral relation to the subject matter, like Dexter. However, with Trauma Team, Atlus is bringing medical investigation into the Trauma Center series for the first time, albeit without furries or serial killers in tow (hey, you can’t have everything, right?).
Take a look at the video above and then keep an eye open for our preview of Trauma Team, coming to CFD! very soon.
http://www.crushfragdestroy.com/2010/02/27/trauma-team-forensics-walkthrough/When someone talks about forensic science, generally one doesn’t immediately... more
-
-
-
GSM cellular networks in the US and Europe use the A5/1 stream cipher meant to ensure cellular calls cannot be listened into by unauthorized parties monitoring radio traffic. However, the guarantee of privacy is no longer ensured. New attack techniques were unveiled at the Hacking at Random conference in The Netherlends which would allow an attacker to decrypt cellular calls made over a GSM network. The attacker only needs the new software and about $500 in radio monitoring equipment.
http://information-security-resources.com/2010/01/11/cell-phone-tapping-gsm-encryption-hacked/GSM cellular networks in the US and Europe use the A5/1 stream cipher meant to ensure... more
-
-
After the leak of Microsoft COFFEE into the wild, a tool emerges that will supposedly make life very difficult for a forensic investigator using COFFEE. The tool is titled DECAF and is freely available, although not open source. The tool does not need to be installed, and when configured in ‘LockDown Mode’ offers a set of Counter-Forensics functions upon detecting a COFFEE process running on the computer. The following options Counter-Forensics functions are available…
http://information-security-resources.com/2010/01/06/decaf-counter-forensics-coffee-tool/After the leak of Microsoft COFFEE into the wild, a tool emerges that will supposedly... more
-
-
Microsoft’s much sought-after COFEE law-enforcement forensic tool has leaked onto the Internet. One user uploaded it to private tracker What.cd to collect a huge 1.6tb bounty. However, in a sensible move, the admins of the site took action to remove the link and ban further sharing of the tool via the site.
http://torrentfreak.com/cofee-forensic-tool-leaks-to-what-cd-admins-ban-it-091108/Microsoft’s much sought-after COFEE law-enforcement forensic tool has leaked... more
-
-
A fingerprint found on the upper left hand side of a 13 x 10in chalk, pen, and ink portrait reveals that it could actually be a long lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.
More Leonardo and Hands information at www.leonardoshands.com
No one thought twice when the portrait sold at Christie's New York in the late 1990's. Then believed to be an early 19th Century German depiction of a young woman in profile, it was purchased for $19 thousand. But two years ago, an anonymous Swiss collector grew suspicious of its true origin after viewing it at the Gantz Gallery in New York. Immediately, art collector and friend, Peter Silverman, purchased it on his behalf for a similar price.
Now, a century old fingerprint leads London dealer Simon Dickinson to say it could be worth over $160 million.
Using Lumiere Technology, Montreal-based forensics expert Peter Paul Biro found the fingerprint within the successive layers of color. "Leonardo used his hands liberally and frequently as part of his painting technique. His fingerprints are found on many of his works," Biro explained to the Associate Press. "I was able to make use of multispectral images to make a little smudge a very readable fingerprint."
The print is considered "highly comparable" to one previously found on Leonardo's St Jerome in the Vatican. Furthermore, a palm print, which was also found within the neck of the young woman, helped determine that the artist was left-handed, as da Vinci famously was.
How apropos that scholars of art, science, and technology should have to work so cooperatively to uncover what would be the first major piece by Leonardo da Vinci found in 100 years! It is just as he would have wanted.A fingerprint found on the upper left hand side of a 13 x 10in chalk, pen, and ink... more
-
-
In Milwaukee, police say a mislabeled DNA sample made it possible for a suspected serial killer to avoid arrest for more than a decade.
The man — now charged with seven murders — might have been arrested before some of the murders occurred if state officials hadn't lost his DNA sample.
The error revealed a gaping hole in Wisconsin's DNA data bank and is spurring state officials to gather and verify thousands of DNA samples they thought were already in the system. In all, as many as 12,000 samples may be missing. In addition, other states are searching for similar flaws in their system for collecting and storing DNA.
A DNA sample from a crime scene can be a double-edged sword. If it's matched correctly to a murderer, justice can be done. But if it's lost or mislabeled, an innocent man may end up in prison.
In 2000, when Wisconsin began collecting DNA samples from all convicted felons, Walter Ellis was serving time for beating his girlfriend with a hammer. He managed to avoid having his sample taken by bribing another inmate to have his mouth swabbed instead and claim to be Ellis.
By the time the fraud was discovered, Ellis had left prison and the state did not have his DNA on file. Milwaukee prosecutors now say Ellis went on to murder at least seven women over the next decade.In Milwaukee, police say a mislabeled DNA sample made it possible for a suspected... more
-
-
In reality, the computer forensics job is a standard process and every one of us does parts of the process when we debug our computers. Here is a simple tutorial on what is involved in performing more thorough computer forensics.In reality, the computer forensics job is a standard process and every one of us does... more
-
-
Fingerprinting and analysis of hair fibers and marks made by weapons are familiar forensic tools to those of us who love crime shows, never mind to criminal defendants on trial and those who say they were wrongly convicted by evidence based on those techniques.
So you may be surprised to learn that none of those methods — which comprise the majority of what most real-life labs do — has been scientifically validated, and of the techniques commonly used in the nation's forensic labs, only DNA analysis has been rigorously proven to match a suspect to a crime.
Those are the conclusions of a new report released yesterday by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). "In terms of the reliability and accuracy in making individualization conclusions, it is fair to say that, with the exception of nuclear DNA analysis, there is a lot we do not know about other forensic disciplines," said the NAS panel's co-chair, Constantine Gatsonis, director of the Center for Statistical Sciences at Brown University, in a statement.
In the report, the NAS recommends that Congress establish a National Institute of Forensic Science to study the non-validated techniques, and to create and enforce standards for forensic scientists and the labs they work in. Those labs should work independently of police departments and prosecutors, the panel that assembled the report added.
After the findings were released, Sen. Jay Rockefeller said he'd introduce legislation that would "address the need for standards, including best practices and certification and accreditation of forensic professionals."
Between 5 percent and 10 percent of a crime lab's analysis involves DNA testing; the rest encompasses other techniques, according to the New York-based Innocence Project, which works to exonerate convicts through DNA analysis. (The Human Genome Project has a detailed explanation of what happens to DNA in a forensics lab.)
In the case of tool mark analysis, there aren't studies of large populations that would show how many of the weapons such as knives or wood share distinguishing characteristics. Scientists lack information about how much one person's fingerprints vary with each impression — and how much prints differ across a population. And there's no evidence that analyzing hair fibers is a reliable way to identify a specific person, said the report, which Congress commissioned two years ago.
About half of the 232 people the Innocence Project has helped exonerate were originally found guilty by "unvalidated or improper" forensics, the group says. Its co-director, Peter Neufeld, called the NAS findings "unprecedented."
"This report is a major breakthrough toward ensuring that so-called scientific evidence in criminal cases is solid, validated and reliable," Neufeld, who testified at NAS hearings on the issue and shared data with the panel, said in a statement. "For too long, forensic science professionals have not had the support or management needed to identify the real strengths and weaknesses of different assays and techniques. This report provides the roadmap for rectifying that problem."Fingerprinting and analysis of hair fibers and marks made by weapons are familiar... more
-
-
The nation's crime labs are so seriously deficient that criminals are allowed to go free, the wrong people are sometimes convicted, and only a radical shakeup can improve the results, according to a long-awaited report out Wednesday.
"The fact is that many forensic tests — such as those used to infer the source of toolmarks or bite marks — have never been exposed to stringent scientific scrutiny," the report says, adding that even fingerprints are subject to varying interpretations.
The root of the problem is the lack of strict standards, the report concludes. It calls on Congress to establish a national institute of forensic science to accredit crime labs, require that analysts be certified, and establish uniform standards for analyzing crime scene evidence.
Makes me wonder how many people are in jail convicted with the help of forensics that might not be right?The nation's crime labs are so seriously deficient that criminals are allowed to... more
-
-
America is haunted by 100,000 missing persons and 40,000 unidentified sets of remains. Only one lab can truly connect the lost and the dead—and it’s revealing the secrets of serial killers in the process.
[More at Link]America is haunted by 100,000 missing persons and 40,000 unidentified sets of remains.... more
-
-
A British inventor's new fingerprinting technique has given fresh impetus to half a dozen unsolved cases and could help police identify the killer of a man shot dead 10 years ago in the US.
For detectives in the city of Bristol, Connecticut, the 1998 murder case of Louis "Pete" LaFontaine remains the only unsolved killing on their books.
The local police team are determined to find the killer, prompting detective Garrie Dorman to travel 3,500 miles to see if a little bit of British inventiveness can help.A British inventor's new fingerprinting technique has given fresh impetus to half... more
-
