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Xbox Crime Fighting

Computer Scientists Develop Forensics Tool for Gaming Console Hard Drives, Expose Criminal Evidence

February 1, 2010

Computer scientists developed a tool kit that can identify and release criminal evidence locked inside of game consoles. The tool can mount an image of the file system used by the console, allowing investigators to search and analyze the directory structure- using commands to browse the directory tree, open files, view files in an edit mode, list the contents of the current directory and expand the current directory to list all associated subdirectories and files.

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WHAT IS CYBER FORENSICS? The subset of forensic science concerned with interpreting evidence contained in computers and digital media is called cyber forensics. The field is concerned with issues such as recovering lost data, and revealing and decrypting data hidden on a suspect's computer. In addition to computers, cyber forensics specialists can also recover information from cellular phones, mp3 players, CDs, DVDs and more. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of legal cases today involve some sort of digital evidence. Some of these devices, including X boxes, do not use standard computer conventions for naming and organizing files, which can add a layer of confusion to the process of forensic analysis.

ANOTHER CYBER FORENSIC DEVICE: A flasher box is a device that transfers data from a cell phone to a computer, where people unfamiliar with the device in question can examine files for evidence. With one of these devices, non-experts are able to check for clues that may help them solve cases, even if they have never before seen a similar device.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

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On the Web: X Box No Safe Haven for Hiding Files

To Go Inside This Science:
David Collins
Protowise Labs
(936) 294 3522
dcc002@shsu.edu

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
IEEE-USA
Pender McCarter
p.mccarter@ieee.org


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