Inside Cyber Crime Investigation: Foundations and Real-World Techniques

Criminal investigations continue to adapt to the growing role of digital technologies in crime. Fraud, theft, identity theft, terrorist activities and espionage among many others - leave digital evidence. Properly collecting, analyzing and preserving this data are crucial aspects of law enforcement, corporate security and criminal justice. This work is a response to recurring issues with most literature on the subject. Much of the available information is overly academic for practical purposes. Other material delves into specific software tools without ever considering the broader framework of how those tools fit into the larger scheme. We wanted something that covers the whole process - from what cyber crime actually is, through evidence collection and open-source tools, into network and email forensics, and eventually into how machine learning is starting to change detection work.