[Infowarrior] - MS helps pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

[Richard Forno]

(c/o DS)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=200437975
1&zsection_id=2003750725&slug=msftlaw29&date=20080429

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

By Benjamin J. Romano

Seattle Times technology reporter

Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to
quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in
crimes.

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is
a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of
law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith
described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company
conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes
to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world
crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a
computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.

It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically
involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially
losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.

More than 2,000 officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the Philippines,
Germany, New Zealand and the United States, are using the device, which
Microsoft provides free.

"These are things that we invest substantial resources in, but not from the
perspective of selling to make money," Smith said in an interview. "We're
doing this to help ensure that the Internet stays safe."

Law-enforcement officials from agencies in 35 countries are in Redmond this
week to talk about how technology can help fight crime. Microsoft held a
similar event in 2006. Discussions there led to the creation of COFEE.

Smith compared the Internet of today to London and other Industrial
Revolution cities in the early 1800s. As people flocked from small
communities where everyone knew each other, an anonymity emerged in the
cities and a rise in crime followed.

The social aspects of Web 2.0 are like "new digital cities," Smith said.
Publishers, interested in creating huge audiences to sell advertising, let
people participate anonymously.

That's allowing "criminals to infiltrate the community, become part of the
conversation and persuade people to part with personal information," Smith
said.

Children are particularly at risk to anonymous predators or those with false
identities. "Criminals seek to win a child's confidence in cyberspace and
meet in real space," Smith cautioned.

Expertise and technology like COFEE are needed to investigate cybercrime,
and, increasingly, real-world crimes.

"So many of our crimes today, just as our lives, involve the Internet and
other digital evidence," said Lisa Johnson, who heads the Special Assault
Unit in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

A suspect's online activities can corroborate a crime or dispel an alibi,
she said.

The 35 individual law-enforcement agencies in King County, for example,
don't have the resources to investigate the explosion of digital evidence
they seize, said Johnson, who attended the conference.

"They might even choose not to seize it because they don't know what to do
with it," she said. "... We've kind of equated it to asking specific
law-enforcement agencies to do their own DNA analysis. You can't possibly do
that."

Johnson said the prosecutor's office, the Washington Attorney General's
Office and Microsoft are working on a proposal to the Legislature to fund
computer forensic crime labs.

Microsoft also got credit for other public-private partnerships around law
enforcement.

Jean-Michel Louboutin, Interpol's executive director of police services,
said only 10 of 50 African countries have dedicated cybercrime investigative
units.

"The digital divide is no exaggeration," he told the conference. "Even in
countries with dedicated cybercrime units, expertise is often too scarce."

He credited Microsoft for helping Interpol develop training materials and
international databases used to prevent child abuse.

Smith acknowledged Microsoft's efforts are not purely altruistic. It
benefits from selling collaboration software and other technology to
law-enforcement agencies, just like everybody else, he said.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano at seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company