In today’s digital world, where vast amounts of our private and public information are stored across numerous online platforms, the need for comprehensive forensic analysis of digital accounts in legal proceedings has never been more apparent. Traditional digital forensics focuses on analysis of physical devices, such as a phone or computer. Whilst social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google, or other online services such as email, may store data on a digital device, this can often be just a subset of the information available on the account, as the data is stored in the ‘cloud’ rather than on the device itself. A more complete version of this data may be obtained by examining the relevant account on that online platform instead of, or in conjunction with, an examination of the device.
The Cloud refers to servers that are accessed over the Internet, rather than a device physically in your possession. Data is stored in the Cloud so that it can be accessed from any device. For example, if you get a new phone, you can simply log in to your account and all your data is there ready for you. But why is it called the Cloud? It started off as a nickname for the Internet; in the early days, technical diagrams often represented the servers that make up the Internet as clouds, and so the term was born!
We specialise in providing expert forensic services tailored to examining digital accounts and other sources of cloud-stored data. We can advise on an appropriate digital forensic strategy encompassing phones, computer and cloud, to establish how best to capture the data you need.
Cases we’ve worked on include:
One of the benefits of Cloud services is that they can be accessed from anywhere. When those services are misused, however, how can we establish who was responsible? The answer lies with IP Address evidence. An IP Address is a unique identifier across the entire internet, and providers such as Google and Facebook record your IP address when you access their services. Through legal proceedings, these recorded IP addresses can be supplied by the service provider, and relied upon to attribute the account of interest to an individual. Such attributions, however, are full of caveats and must be carefully examined. We discuss wider IP address evidence issues in a CrimeLine podcast HERE.
If you would like to discuss a case that may involve online data or IP address evidence, you can talk directly our digital forensics experts at our Durham office on 0191 332 4999 or email kbc@keithborer.co.uk.
