Mobile phones are a relatively recent phenomenon and are used for both personal and professional purposes. These phones are highly mobile communications devices that perform an array of functions ranging from simple voice communication to running computing processes.
Advanced mobiles provide the ability to connect to the Internet and surf the Web, perform multimedia messaging, exchange e-mail or chat using instant messaging.
These capabilities have inevitably resulted in mobiles been used to commit cyber crime. Their universal access offers opportunity and motive to the cyber criminal(s).
Advanced smart phones that provide access to the internet are also used to access pornographic content by underage youth. Designed for mobility these phones grant unique exclusivity and privacy to anyone who possesses such a device. Explicit images can therefore be transmitted through multimedia messaging and thereby circumvent parental and legal controls.
As mobile technology matures we need to question the security of mobile communications and identify the associated risks. This is particularly true in the areas of access to pornographic material by minors and m-banking. There is no silver bullet that can be applied to control the access and transmission of offensive material through mobile telephony.
Parents and guardians are strongly encouraged to speak openly with their children about online explicit material that can be accessed through mobiles.
Education is the first line of defense we can provide to youngsters. Mobile service providers must be active partners in this sensitization process.
It is technically difficult to regulate mobile usage and access. It is however easy to obtain evidence of illegal activity from the specific mobile and network. The following contents of modern mobiles can have value as evidence: IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), short dial numbers, text messages, stored files, programs and audio recordings, logged incoming calls and dialed numbers and GPRS, EDGE, WAP and Internet settings.
M-Security has yet to be embedded into our mainstream policy and legislative frameworks. M-security refers to the policy, technical, managerial and legislative safeguards applied to mobile systems and data to protect organizational and personal privacy. The absence of these frameworks has for instance meant that it was difficult to prosecute the senders of SMSs that were used to inflame tension and incite ethnic hatred early this year.
Inhibiting offensive materials such as pornographic material and hate messages is extremely hard to enforce. Safaricom for instance has about 5 million SMSs being sent by their subscribers on an average day. Determining the source of an explicit SMS from this number is nearly impossible. The imperative is therefore on us to educate the vulnerable members of our society on how to safeguard themselves from the dangers of mobile technology.
Education is the only key.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Understanding Computer Forensics and its Role in Kenya
Safeguarding the Kenyan cyber highway from virtual fraudsters and other malignant cyber characters is vital. Our dependence on ICT is steadily growing and is present in many different aspects of our lives e.g. public utilities, communications (mobile telephony e.g. Safaricom), financial institutions (ATM’s), medical (diagnostic equipment) and others.
Our digital networks are foundations for our future development. These networks might be corporate Local or Wide Area Networks or home based wireless networks. These digital resources need protection due to the valuable information that traverses them. They are however vulnerable to illegal intrusion and penetration.
ICT Security involves the implementation of safeguards that protect against this intrusion, mishaps and mistakes. These safeguards include: physical security, operational security, information security, disaster recovery, access control, cryptography, auditing, laws and ethics.
The motive here is to prevent a breach. A simple analogy would be the multiple security locks and alarm systems installed at homes to enhance domestic security.
Computer Forensics on the other hand involves the detection and investigation of criminal activities committed online, after the breach or intrusion has occurred. To achieve this, the process of evidence gathering is fundamental. Note that computer forensics and security differ in definition and function though they are fundamentally complementary.
Locard’s Principle of Exchange states that any person who enters a scene of crime leaves something behind and takes something from the scene with them. This applies to the physical and digital realms.
Forensic computing entails the use of sophisticated and modern technological tools and procedures that must be followed to guarantee the accuracy and preservation of digital evidence and the accuracy of results concerning computer evidence processing.
Due to the special characteristics of digital evidence it is necessary to consider it separately and with special consideration.
Evidence comes in two forms, physical and digital. Physical evidence will for example include the computer the crime was committed against or used, peripherals, mobile devices and other physical storage devices like DVDs, CDs, memory pens, paper evidence, documentation and others.
Digital evidence will on the other hand include deleted files, registry entries to the internet history cache, automatic word backup files, e-mail headers and instant messaging logs which give clues as to the intermediate servers through which information has passed through. Server logs also provide information about every computer accessing a web site.
Computer forensics is a vital component in combating white collar crime, child pornography and other malicious crimes. ICT technology has already permeated our society. It is only logical that we develop the attendant capacity to detect and investigate cyber-crime. Our limited expertise is already costing us and the rampant growth of child pornography at the coast is example enough that Kenya needs to develop computer forensic capacity.
Our digital networks are foundations for our future development. These networks might be corporate Local or Wide Area Networks or home based wireless networks. These digital resources need protection due to the valuable information that traverses them. They are however vulnerable to illegal intrusion and penetration.
ICT Security involves the implementation of safeguards that protect against this intrusion, mishaps and mistakes. These safeguards include: physical security, operational security, information security, disaster recovery, access control, cryptography, auditing, laws and ethics.
The motive here is to prevent a breach. A simple analogy would be the multiple security locks and alarm systems installed at homes to enhance domestic security.
Computer Forensics on the other hand involves the detection and investigation of criminal activities committed online, after the breach or intrusion has occurred. To achieve this, the process of evidence gathering is fundamental. Note that computer forensics and security differ in definition and function though they are fundamentally complementary.
Locard’s Principle of Exchange states that any person who enters a scene of crime leaves something behind and takes something from the scene with them. This applies to the physical and digital realms.
Forensic computing entails the use of sophisticated and modern technological tools and procedures that must be followed to guarantee the accuracy and preservation of digital evidence and the accuracy of results concerning computer evidence processing.
Due to the special characteristics of digital evidence it is necessary to consider it separately and with special consideration.
Evidence comes in two forms, physical and digital. Physical evidence will for example include the computer the crime was committed against or used, peripherals, mobile devices and other physical storage devices like DVDs, CDs, memory pens, paper evidence, documentation and others.
Digital evidence will on the other hand include deleted files, registry entries to the internet history cache, automatic word backup files, e-mail headers and instant messaging logs which give clues as to the intermediate servers through which information has passed through. Server logs also provide information about every computer accessing a web site.
Computer forensics is a vital component in combating white collar crime, child pornography and other malicious crimes. ICT technology has already permeated our society. It is only logical that we develop the attendant capacity to detect and investigate cyber-crime. Our limited expertise is already costing us and the rampant growth of child pornography at the coast is example enough that Kenya needs to develop computer forensic capacity.
Protecting our Youth against Child Pornography
The Internet has brought with it immense contributions to our society. In the educational, economic and social areas much has been gained through easier researching, faster financial transacting and near limitless communication.
However, its darker side is now evident. The CCI Wednesday Magazine recently exposed the alarming growth of child pornography at the coast. This crime has continued unabated in our midst due to the fact that as a country we are ill-prepared to combat cyber crime.
Child pornography is defined as a visual depiction of any kind, whether made or produced by electronic or other means that depicts a child or minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
This reprehensible crime is increasingly ensnaring more minors who are under 18 years of age. These are legally recognized children who find themselves in the clutches of online sexual predators.
It is important to realize that the lives of children featured in these illegal productions are forever altered, not only by the molestation but by the permanent record of the abuse.
It is hard to detect child pornography due to the anonymity found in the internet. The distribution of exploitative images of children is conducted through home-computer technology.
This technology has revolutionized the distribution of these images by increasing the ease and decreasing the cost of production and distribution especially across international borders.
Computer technology has transformed this once fringe activity into a booming and sophisticated global cottage industry.
People who produce, distribute and possess child porn images are usually multiple offenders who usually sexually victimize children.
Apprehending these sexual predators is difficult and needs a radical realignment from our law enforcement agencies.
Applying traditional investigation techniques to combat child pornography will not dent this nefarious crime. Online sexual predation demands skilled digital investigation where undercover investigators can pose online as minors and identify the offenders who are victimizing innocent Kenyan children.
Financial resources should be allocated to setting up a High-Tech Crime Unit within the Kenyan Police Force. This unit should be mandated with the task of ferreting out online sexual cartels that have taken root in our country.
Funds are required to finance computer forensic labs, train officers, purchase software and hardware equipment, logistics and finance legislation that curbs child pornography.
Global liaison is an area that also presents a challenge to child pornography investigations and would be an area of urgent concern for a local cyber-crime unit. Trans-national sexual predation has emerged as a mounting problem due to the global nature of the internet.
While international child sexual predation is by no means a uniquely modern phenomenon, the global nature of cyberspace significantly enhances the ability of child sexual offenders to commit crimes in Kenya which will affect individuals in a variety of other countries.
However, its darker side is now evident. The CCI Wednesday Magazine recently exposed the alarming growth of child pornography at the coast. This crime has continued unabated in our midst due to the fact that as a country we are ill-prepared to combat cyber crime.
Child pornography is defined as a visual depiction of any kind, whether made or produced by electronic or other means that depicts a child or minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
This reprehensible crime is increasingly ensnaring more minors who are under 18 years of age. These are legally recognized children who find themselves in the clutches of online sexual predators.
It is important to realize that the lives of children featured in these illegal productions are forever altered, not only by the molestation but by the permanent record of the abuse.
It is hard to detect child pornography due to the anonymity found in the internet. The distribution of exploitative images of children is conducted through home-computer technology.
This technology has revolutionized the distribution of these images by increasing the ease and decreasing the cost of production and distribution especially across international borders.
Computer technology has transformed this once fringe activity into a booming and sophisticated global cottage industry.
People who produce, distribute and possess child porn images are usually multiple offenders who usually sexually victimize children.
Apprehending these sexual predators is difficult and needs a radical realignment from our law enforcement agencies.
Applying traditional investigation techniques to combat child pornography will not dent this nefarious crime. Online sexual predation demands skilled digital investigation where undercover investigators can pose online as minors and identify the offenders who are victimizing innocent Kenyan children.
Financial resources should be allocated to setting up a High-Tech Crime Unit within the Kenyan Police Force. This unit should be mandated with the task of ferreting out online sexual cartels that have taken root in our country.
Funds are required to finance computer forensic labs, train officers, purchase software and hardware equipment, logistics and finance legislation that curbs child pornography.
Global liaison is an area that also presents a challenge to child pornography investigations and would be an area of urgent concern for a local cyber-crime unit. Trans-national sexual predation has emerged as a mounting problem due to the global nature of the internet.
While international child sexual predation is by no means a uniquely modern phenomenon, the global nature of cyberspace significantly enhances the ability of child sexual offenders to commit crimes in Kenya which will affect individuals in a variety of other countries.
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