Over the past forty years, the personal computer has gone from being a novelty to a necessity and from a simple contrivance to do word processing to “possibly being as hazardous as letting your child catch into a car with a complete stranger,” stated Mark Addison, forensic investigator (Addison, 2007). With everything available on computers today, none of your personal information is safe.

The year 2006 saw more than its dazzling share of computer failures. Multi-million dollar companies had credit card files stolen. One of the well known cases of this was the TJX Corporation (parent company of TJ-Maxx, Marshalls, A.J. Wright etc.). In late 2006 CEO Carol Meyrowitz released a letter apologizing to anyone who was affected by an intrusion into the corporations main data base where credit card information was stolen as well as personal information and some employee information was compromised also. In the letter Meyrowitz said, “With the help of computer security experts, we have strengthened the security of our computer systems and we fill customers should feel safe shopping in our stores” (Meyrowitz, 2006). I was working at a TJ-Maxx at the time of the incident and I know we lost a lot of business right after the first press statement was released. When people started noticing issues with their credit cards, many panicked, some had their cards shut off and others thought nothing of it. After the letter was released towards the end of February, sales began to rise again, but people began paying more with cash and checks because even though Meyrowitz, TJX CEO, said that TJX customers should feel apt shopping there, people difficulty that this may occur again someday. This is all because one computer was broken into and a lot of information was compromised, my enjoy included. As of the latest press release, the securities experts still don’t know how many customers’ personal information was actually compromised, but they took precautions for all customers. Again, while speaking with Effect Addison, I asked him what could TJX have done to prevent this financial spot and he said, “To be honest, it’s hard to say. They don’t know if it was inside work or not. If it was inside work, not much could have been done to prevent it however; if it was outside work they could have made their security system a little better” (Addison, 2007). Easier said than done, according to an article put out by MSNBC it’s estimated that seventy percent of identity theft comes from an inside job. You can’t easily avoid something like that. Most people don’t develop a habit of stealing identities and if they get caught it’s going to show up on a background check. But what about the other thirty percent? Well I asked Mark Addison about this too and according to him, “You can’t necessarily prevent it but you can lessen the blow a company will take. If files are (scattered) then outsiders won’t get as mighty personal information and thus, it might not be worth it anymore.” (Addison, 2007).

According to the 2001 census approximately fifty-six percent of all households in the United States reported having a computer in their home. Of that fifty-six percent, around fifty percent also reported having the internet. With the use of a computer comes the risk of a virus, Trojan or worm. A virus can come from any number of places, within the internet it can come from an instant message or e-mail. It can be transferred on a floppy disk from one computer to another or from one network to another (Lehtinen, Russell, & Gangemi, 2006, p. 82). To reduce this risk the user needs to use some sort of anti-virus scan such as McAfee or Norton that updates periodically to include any unusual reported viruses, Trojans or worms. The internet adds the risk of spyware. Spyware “detects and reports a user’s Internet activities, adware, which presents the user with targeted advertisements for goods… which is code designed to cause harm or further the illicit ends of the perpetrator” (Lehtinen, Russell, & Gangemi, 2006, p. 23). Spyware can potentially cause identity theft, if you use a credit card to make a assume, that number can be stolen right as you type it in. It’s becoming quite a common problem. Many companies have come out with anti-spyware software as well as anti-virus software; it can be set to scan your computer even when you aren’t there so your computer is always protected.

In the last twenty years or so computer forensics has become a growing field. You may ask yourself why and it’s simply this, computer forensics is a field set up to try and make the personal computer impartial that, personal. Make firewalls stronger, credit card files inaccessible and computers overall safer. The field is basically described as the “process of methodically examining computer media (hard drives, diskettes, CDs, etc.) for evidence” (Vacca, 2002, p. 4). This means retrieving information that has been deleted off a computer for security and criminal prosecution purposes. By doing that, people in this field can come by the weak spots in files and work to make them stronger. People in this field can also utilize the information obtained to help prosecute criminals who steal files or personal information in one way or another. It can also create evidence to take criminals to court on child pornography charges and even evidence for embezzlement cases.

The future doesn’t observe much better. A web site did a Q&A with author Bruce Schenier (Beyond Fear) who revealed his thoughts for the future of the computer. When asked what he thinks the technology will be like in 2028 he said computers will not be anymore secure but that computing will be more secure. He is quoted as saying, “Cyberspace is no different than the real world: The individual pieces may be insecure, but the collection of pieces we call society hums along objective blooming” (Schenier, 2007). With any luck a system will be devised that’s similar to the one out of 2001: A Space Odyssey where the computer will know what is righteous versus what is harmful to it. It’s a computer that can more or less think. It’s a concept that was looked at back in 2001 by Philip Orbach though, later in the article he makes the extremely valuable point that even with around fifty years of research scientists have barely been able to scratch the surface to artificial intelligence and that it could be an extremely long period of time before this becomes a strong possibility.

As I begin to wrap this up I want you to think about something, chances are you’re reading this on a computer. How did you know this paper didn’t have a virus in it? We open things everyday and any of them could potentially hold a virus that could wipe out your whole computer. Ever signed up for a contest from a website you had never heard of? Given your name, address and/or phone number? That could be a scam and all of your personal information could be stolen from that little bit of information that you had given just for a chance to catch a trip. Computers are not secure. Not by any means, any personal information can be stolen from a computer, even credit card information from a well-protected database. Computer security related fields are going to grow rapidly in the coming years, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook due to the fact that companies will be adopting new and sophisticated technologies (McGraw Hill, 2006). Be cautious; don’t give personal information to websites you are unsure about. If you don’t have a virus and spyware scan, get one. McAfee has built-in web search options that can tell you if the site is trustworthy or not. You can’t prevent everything from happening but you can produce yourself less of a target.

References

“A Community of Computer Forensics Professionals.” UM Text. (2004). Computer

Forensics World. Retrieved March 15, 2007

http://www.computerforensicsworld.com

This is a forum board so all information will need to be double checked, but a lot of other links to good information elsewhere also. Most boards have links to original sources or sources where similar information can be found.

Addison, M. (2007). Personal Interview. Retrieved March 19, 2007.

Forensic Investigator is his title, I do believe. He works at the local sheriffs department in Columbus. This gentleman had a lot of great information to share. Gave a lot of experience information. Things he’s been through. Need to follow up with him and give him a copy of finished paper. I just need to e-mail him if I have any additional questions.

Barr, J. (2005). Forensic Computing. Retrieved March 12, 2007.

http://www.faulkner.com.proxy.devry.edu/products/faccts/

This article had a lot of useful information that I will use later also. I used only one point out of many that I would like to use. expend forensics software company, read into that a little more.

Dament, A. (2007). Personal Interview. March 29, 2007.

Not certain if I’m actually going to utilize this. Not an trusty interview. Fair some things he said while in a meeting with him when talking about my paper. Insurance Agent.

Golubev, V. (2006). Computer Crime Research Center. http://www.crime-research.org/

Good site. Hasn’t been updated powerful recently due to financial issues but peaceful has a lot of really good information about how hackers get into computers. Use the important info about what they did. **Part about possible cyber terrorism.

Lehtinen, R., Russell, D., & Gangemi, G.T. (2006). Computer Security Basics. North

Sebastopol. O’Reilly Media.

Awesome book, would like to buy my enjoy copy. Very little on computer forensics but a lot on computer securities in general. Can be used to tie it all together including the interview with Addison!

Meyrowitz, C. (2006). Letter from CEO of TJX Corp. February 21, 2007.

http://www.tjx.com/tjx_message.html

Letter from TJX CEO and President Carol Meyrowitz. Released to the website as well as the press releases are on the site as well. Quotes from Meyrowitz and possibly press releases too. All on site.

McGraw Hill Companies. (2006). Occupational Outlook Handbook. 2006 edition.

New York. McGraw Hill.

Used as a last minute resources for job outlook over the next years. Amazing resource should have thought about it previously.

“Nations first National Computer Forensics Institute to be located in Alabama.” News Release. (2007). Put quote marks around titles of articles. Government Technology. Retrieved on February 20, 2007.

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/104346

This article is about the new Computer Forensics Institute that is going to be built. Definitely will have to watch for a follow-up article as promised. Had a lot of really kindly information in it about CF.

Orbach, P. (2001). Suite 101- The Future of Computer Security. Retrieved March 12, 2007.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/article/03/12/12/49FEiw25luminaries_3.html

Computers that can think for themselves and protect themselves against intruders? Awesome, great article and a lot of other good information possibly useful elsewhere.

Schneier, B. (2007). Info World- The Visionaries. Retrieved March 12, 2007.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/article/03/12/12/49FEiw25luminaries_3.html

This is about the future of computers in 2028 and how they will not be anymore secure really. In 10 yrs they are saying we will be in the embedded era, get more info on that!

Vacca, J. (2002). Computer Forensics: Computer Crime Scene Investigation. Hingham.

CHARLES RIVER MEDIA, INC.

Page 4, awesome definition of Computer Forensics. Good book, couldn’t find a newer version with updated information. Gives case studies of computer security cases.