Researchers from the University of California at San Diego delivered a paper at the FAST-11 Conference in San Jose, Calif., last week that shows it’s almost impossible to reliably erase data from a solid state drive.
The report, Reliably Erasing Data from Flash-Based Solid State Drives (PDF), goes through all of the known techniques for erasing data and they found the best method was a big hammer.
This Twitter thing has become a necessity to the connected. It is also an evolving search problem for Investigators.
Searching Twitter isn’t as straightforward as I would like. Content disappears in a short time in many search facilities and search results differ depending on which search facility you use.
Here are 18 Twitter-related sites that I have found useful: Continue reading ‘Twitter Searching’
In conducting Internet research we encounter the problem of persona isolation. In national security circles this is called the “27 Mohammeds problem”. Essentially, how do we know that the John Smith mentioned in a blog is the specific John Smith we are researching?
This leads to a another difficulty. An Internet reputation may not reflect reality. The Internet reputation may be fabricated out of malice. We must evaluate a conviction in the august Internet Court and determine if we believe it enough to not take a risk on the subject firm or person.
The following related articles may help you deal with this problem:
Richard Raysman and Peter Brown, New York Law Journal, December 15, 2010
Throughout North America, courts, legislators, and lawyers are learning how to ethically deal with the investigation of social media content.
The New York City Bar’s Committee on Professional Ethics recently issued an opinion entitled “Obtaining Evidence From Social Networking Websites.” In Formal Opinion 2010-2, the committee stated that a lawyer may not attempt to gain access to a social network website under false pretenses, either directly or through an agent.
Rather, the committee advised that a lawyer should rely on discovery procedures sanctioned by the ethical rules and case law to obtain relevant evidence, such as the “friending” of unrepresented parties without using deception or by using formal discovery devices such as non-party subpoenas directed to social network providers.
The committee recognized that, generally speaking, users are easier to deceive in the online world than if approached in person: “Despite the common sense admonition not to ‘open the door’ to strangers, social networking users often do just that with a click of the mouse.”
For example, an attorney or hired investigator might pose as an old classmate and send a friend request to a potential witness or unrepresented party in order to gather personal information. The committee stated that such deceptive behavior was barred under the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, namely Rules 4.1 and 8.4(c), which prohibit attorneys from making false statements and engaging in dishonest conduct, respectively.
Related Posts:
I found a new new site indexing UK company records based on a snapshot taken on 4th March 2010 which includes names of their directors but not their addresses. This is searchable by the person’s name.
we bought the Companies House appointment snapshot and dropped it into a quick little searchable symfony app so you can browse the data – it’s the directors and secretaries of every UK company, cross-linked.”
Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the shortwave service, reports that several countries were trying to prevent their people from hearing the news about the protests in Egypt. The service’s Media Network Blog illustrates the heavy-handed actions taken to restrict access to outside news services.
These events reveal how vulnerable news reporting is to government censorship.
We regularly design news monitoring programmes for clients and we have found that monitoring the shortwave services using BBC Monitoring has proved to be a successful strategy. However, cuts at BBC Monitoring may make this strategy less effective.
Most HF broadcasters predicted an end to their services during the next decade. I hope the situation in Egypt, and the response of other dictatorships, will make them reconsider.
Forming Letters Is Key to Learning, Memory, Ideas
Wendy Bounds discusses the fading art of handwriting, pointing out that new research shows it can benefit children’s motor skills and their ability to compose ideas and achieve goals throughout life.
The most interesting part of the article involves the ramifications of poor handwriting in test scores.
Even legible handwriting that’s messy can have its own ramifications, says Steve Graham, professor of education at Vanderbilt University. He cites several studies indicating that good handwriting can take a generic classroom test score from the 50th percentile to the 84th percentile, while bad penmanship could tank it to the 16th. “There is a reader effect that is insidious,” Dr. Graham says. “People judge the quality of your ideas based on your handwriting.”
As an Investigator, the reader effect may affect how judges and juries view your competence and creditability.
Managing risk is sometimes akin to a black art because it involves predicting future events. By the time I get a mandate, things have started to happen and the client wants a quick resolution to his torment. This always involves predicting the adversaries next move and planning your counter move.
A recent engagement began after some libelous Internet posts. What struck me was that the libel was directed at people who had no direct interest in the libeled company, but rather at a low income neighbourhood near its main plant. This agitating nearly forgotten resentments, fanning hostilities, and exaggerating a controversy from decades past struck a cord in me. It was like a nearly forgotten memory that I couldn’t bring out of the shadows.
After analyzing pamphlets, flyers, and Internet material, it struck me what I was witnessing.
Very quickly a small group of organisers began recruiting local groups to the ill-defined cause — churches, unions, politicians, and an assortment of unsavory gadflies. This was quickly followed with events that were obviously intended to goad the company into rash actions and statements. A so-called news reporter ambushed a senior executive at a charity event and began asking slanderous questions intended to elicit an angry and intemperate response.
What I was witnessing came straight out of Rules for Radicals, written by Saul Alinsky in 1971, which begins, “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history… the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
Fortunately, I had read a lot of 60′s and 70′s radical literature at one point in my career. Being older and more cynical I realised that this would evolve into a shake-down to acquire something from the company unrelated to the needs of the community. With that expectation, substantial resources were used for surveillance, lawyers, and police involvement.
Surveillance identified vandals and organisers. Police interrogated. Lawyers sued. Prosecutors prosecuted. One Rochdale College educated con man turned crooked property developer is now on the lam after being exposed as the “brains” behind the scheme. It looks like he won’t get his kingdom any time soon.
I recommend reading Rules for Radicals first, and then proceeding to Reveille for Radicals as these books are as relevant today as they were when they were written. The tactics and strategies are relevant for today’s G20 ruckus as they were in the 50′s and 60′s. I don’t want to change the world, but I like to know how other people try to.
The tilde (~) helps you find synonyms of words in a Google search. This is usually done by preceding the term with a ~. For example, searching using the term ~investigator will yield results with synonyms for investigator. It is also an excellent search to do in Google RealTime when searching social media to ensure you are using the right search terms.
The tilde search is excellent for search term discovery and variance testing.
A Wired How-to Wiki article, Communicate if Your Government Shuts Off Your Internet offers an excellent insight to your options should government turnoff the Internet.
The recent PC World article: Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down Does your government have an Internet kill-switch? Read our guide to Guerrilla Networking and be prepared for when the lines get cut, shows that the situation in Egypt has spurred geeks everywhere to start building Appocalypse apps that may be headed our way to deal with similar situations in the future.
The Open Mesh web site content is heavy going but useful if you have the technical knowledge.