Digital Forensics

  

Many people think of the Internet as separate from the physical world. This is simply not the case–crime on the Internet is closely tied to crime in the physical world. There are a couple of reasons for this cautionary note. A crime on the Internet usually reflects a crime in the physical world, with human perpetrators. and victims and should be treated with the same gravity. To neglect the very real and direct link between people and the online activities that involve them limits one’s ability to investigate and understand crimes with an online component.

Students think about the impact of auction and check fraud in this modern era of digital shopping. This about how a combination of evidence from the virtual and physical worlds is used to apprehend a criminal.

MSDF-630: Case Study

Case Example inspired by a case in (Casey, 2011)

A buyer on Amazon complained to police that he sent payment to a seller but received no merchandise. The seller requested that the buyer also send a cashier’s check for shipping and additional costs. Over a period of weeks, several dozen similar reports were made to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center against the same seller. To hide his identity, the seller used a Gmail account for online communications and several mail drops to receive checks. Logs obtained from Gmail revealed that the seller was accessing the Internet through a subsidiary of AT&T. When served with a subpoena, AT&T disclosed the suspect’s Google account and associated address, credit card, and telephone numbers. Investigators also obtained information from the suspect’s bank with a subpoena to determine that the cashier’s checks from the buyers had been deposited into the suspect’s bank account. A subpoena to Amazon for customer order history and complaints and supporting evidence from each of the buyers helped corroborate direct connections between the suspect and the fraudulent activities. Employees at each mail drop recognized a photograph of the suspect obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles. A subpoena to the credit card number and a search of real estate property indicated where he conducted most of his fraud. A 3rd company revealed the suspect’s Social Security the suspect’s name turned up an alternate residence the opportunity to uncover crimes in the physical Internet.

Question 1 – Following the Cybertrail

Comment on the interconnectedness of the digital world. To what extent does cyber-criminal have anonymity in their transactions? Be detailed in your response. 

Question 2 – Following the Cybertrail

By what means of your expertise in MSDF-630 provide a critical forensic investigation approach that will play a key role in protecting consumers in this scenario from digital fraud such as this?

COMPUTER

 

Complete the assignment below using Microsoft Excel.

You have been hired by an engineering firm needing a senior level data analyst. Upon accepting this position, your supervisor has a variety of data analysis task for you to complete using PMT and What-IF-Analysis functions. In this process, your supervisor wants you to complete all steps below:

  1. Open a new Microsoft Excel workbook and rename any sheet tab of choice to “My Car” or “My Truck.”
  2. Use the illustration and further steps below to set up and format your worksheet.

  1. Merge and center cells A1 and I1 and then enter a title “My Car” or “My Truck.”
  2. Using a color of choice, fill in cells C3 through I10 and in this colored region, include any picture of choice to represent a car or truck of choice. Nicely format and place this picture within this area.
  3. Then from cell A4 through A10, enter the following labels:
    1. Purchase Price
    2. Down Payment
    3. Trade-in
    4. Amount Financed
    5. Term of loan (in years)
    6. Annual Interest Rate
    7. Monthly Payment
  4. Then from cell B4 through B6, enter a purchase price, down payment, and trade-in value of choice. Then create a formula to calculate amount financed in cell B7. For example, a formula to use in this case would be “=B4-(B5+B6)”.
  5. Then from cell B8 through B9, enter the term of loan in years and an interest rate of choice. Then use a PMT function to determine the monthly payment in cell B10. For example, a formula to use in this case for cell B10 would be “=-PMT(B9/12,B8*12,B7)”.
  6. The illustration below will offer more support on input of all required formulas along with sample data input:

  1. Once all data and calculations are working, do any other housekeeping to include professional format of choice to enhance presentation of data.
  2. Repeat steps 4 through 12 creating another similar model for a house of choice and place this loan analysis model in the same workbook but in a new worksheet naming the worksheet “My Home.”
  3. Once both PMT_Models are complete, go back to My Car or My Truck worksheet and use the illustration below and further enhance the loan analysis using What-IF-Analysis.

  1. In cell A12, type the label Annual Interest Rate. Then merge and center cells B12 through I12 and enter the label Term of Loan (in years).
  2. In cell A13, equal this to cell reference B10. Fill this cell with a color of choice and use the same color for the text color to hide this value.
  3. Starting with cell A14 and ending with A35, enter some interest rates. Make sure data is centered and formatted as a percentage.
  4. Starting with cell B13 through I13, enter some additional term of loan options in years and make sure data is centered.
  5. Using your mouse, select all cells in the range from A13 through I35. Then select the data tab and then the What-If-Analysis tool. From the What-If-Analysis options select Data Table. At this point, a small dialog window will appear asking for Row and Column input cells. For the Row Input, select the value associated with years in the loan which would be an absolute reference as $B$8. For the Column Input, select the value associated with interest rate which would be an absolute reference as $B$9. 
  6. To get a better understanding of the purpose and uses of the What-If-Analysis, be sure to explore www.youtube.com and the keywords “Microsoft Excel What-If-Analysis” to see additional demonstrations.
  7. Once all data and calculations are working, do any other housekeeping to include professional format of choice to enhance presentation of data. Below is an illustration of what your My Car or My Truck worksheet will look similar too:

  1. Repeat steps 11 through 18 creating another similar What-IF-Analysis model for the My House worksheet.
  2. Save and be sure the name of the Microsoft Excel Workbook is “M7_YourLastName”.

Assignment Expectations

Structure and Format: Follow all 20 steps using ideally Microsoft Excel.

File name: Name your saved file according to your first initial, last name, and the assignment number (for example, “RHall Assignment 1.xlsx”)

1 Discussion question and Questions

Discussion 4.1

Describe the difference between using Statistics and using Summarize functions on a field.

DISCUSSION ANSWER should be at least 100 words with References.

ASSIGNMENT 1:
I. SHORT ANSWERS Limit your answer to no more than 10-20 words

1. Explain the difference between attribute data and spatial data and give an example of each. Do we need to input both data to GIS? Explain your answer

2. Even with the increasing availability of digital sources, why might one still consider tracing from paper sources for a GIS project?

3. What is the difference between “spatial entities” and “continuous fields”? When we use an entity- based approach and a field-based approach. Give examples.

4. Name four DISADVANTAGES of raster data structure (name more for extra points)

1. 

2.

 3.

 4.

5. Describe how would you create a new ArcGIS layer of the rivers (rivers.lyr), that go through three states: Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania?

1) 

2)

 3)

6. Describe the steps in reclassifying the generic map of Virginia to the map of population. What steps do you need to do? What layers/data do you need for this?

1)

 2)

 3)

II. MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

 Check or circle the correct answer. 

1. In the World of GIS, another term for the spatial feature (object) is:

 Entity
 Topology
 Attribute
 Raster Grids

2. Which of the following is the example of non-spatial data?

 The number of rooms in an office building
 The path of a highway between two cities
 The vegetation patterns
 The location of supermarkets in Fairfax, VA

3. Which of the following are NOT the advantages of vector data structure?

 Compact data structure
 Accurate graphic representation  Overlay analysis is easy
 Network analysis is easy

III. TRUE AND FALSE QUESTIONS Mark with T=True or F=False the following statements

1. Today success or failure with GIS depends more on technology, but not on the conceptual models of

space

TRUE FALSE

2. GIS analyst spends much more time on creation than on verification a model

 TRUE FALSE

3. In a GIS attribute information and spatial information are linked to each other 

TRUE FALSE

4. Spatial environmental surface analysis and modeling is easy with CAD systems 

TRUE FALSE

5. When you select the spatial feature on a map in ArcGIS, the attribute information about the same feature has to be found and selected separately

TRUE FALSE

Statistic Management

Que 1:  

Why is it important to study the internal resources, capabilities, and activities of organizations? What insights can be gained? – 1 page

Que 2: 

Domino’s Pizza was 50 years old in 2010. Visit the company’s business-related website (www.dominosbiz.com) and read the company profile under the “Investors” tab. Does the firm focus on the economic, accounting, or shareholder perspective in the describing its competitive advantage in the profile. Defend/explain your answer. – 1 Page 

Note: My assignments will need actual references from EBSCO host, google scholar, and semantic scholar With a website link at the end.  Only use APA 7th edition.  

1 page

 

I would like you to find an elegantly designed chart and tell me in 4 sentences (one paragraph) why you think it is elegant. 

It should be submitted in one page of a word document. 

The top part should be a the screen shot of the design. 

The explanation should be below. 

AmazonEcho

  

Instructions

1. Please read these two articles: 

· Using forensics against a fitbit device to solve a murder:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-fitbit-alibi-21st-century-technology-used-to-help-solve-wisconsin-moms-murder/

· How Amazon Echo could be forensically analyzed! https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/6/14189384/amazon-echo-murder-evidence-surveillance-data

2. Then go around in your residence / dwelling (home, apartment, condo, etc) and be creative.

3.  Identify at least five appliances or devices that you THINK could be forensically analyzed and then identify how this might be useful in an investigation. Note – do not count your computer or mobile device. Those are obvious!

4. I expect at least one paragraph answer for each device. 

Why did I assign this? 

The goal is to have you start THINKING about how any device, that is capable of holding electronic data (and transmitting to the Internet) could be useful in a particular investigation! 

Discussion

 

In 250 words or more, answer the following. Include references and citations when/if applicable:

  1. Does your company use cloud computing? If not, why not.
  2. What is the type of cloud computing the company uses? SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.?
  3. How did your company justify the cost of these services?