2023 Computer Labs

Google is everyone’s go-to search engine, but most people aren’t utilizing it to its full capacity. Google has built-in tools to search particular websites, exact phrases, and within URLs. This hands-on computer lab will teach attendees how to effectively use Google to filter search results to relevant and useable information. Attendees will complete hands-on exercises using Google Boolean and advanced Operators. 

Ding! Notification: New Email. Who is that really from though? Are those links safe to click? How can I find the true sender? These are all questions we ask ourselves daily with the frequency of phishing and scams. This hands-on computer lab will show you resources to query email addresses, phone numbers, and other information to distinguish true from phishing emails. We will also show you resources to protect yourself both personally and in your organization from viruses and malware. This computer lab can benefit you personally, as well as help you collect resources to give similar presentations to your victims and in your communities.   

As the debate over digital privacy rages in the media and the Courts, many who utilize technology have found ways to obscure their online activity. These also include people who wish to commit criminal offenses. While The Onion Router (TOR) network has some noble ideals, it is often used as a bastion where offenders can operate in the open with little fear of law enforcement interdiction. This hands-on computer lab will introduce attendees to the terminology employed in anonymized browsing, how to access the TOR network and gain a firmer understanding of the challenges of investigating crimes on the Darknet.   

An anonymous threatening word document is sent to your victim. What data is there to help you identify the sender? Metadata, or data about data, is contained in many common files including Office files and images. This hands-on computer lab will show you how to use office applications and other third-party tools to find this data and see the author, time for editing, and potentially even the latitude and longitude of where a photo was taken.   

Facebook rolled out “New Facebook” in 2020. With this new interface comes new investigative challenges on how to on how to complete investigative techniques. With these changes the methods for finding a Facebook ID number, and searching within a profile have changed. This hands-on computer lab will address searching techniques that can be found on “New Facebook”, as well as cover some of the oldies but goodies! 

This two-part, hands-on computer lab will introduce attendees to cellular devices and discuss the many impacts that mobile devices have on investigations. In part 1, attendees will learn the basic terminology and a cadre of resources that can be used during a mobile device data recovery. Considerations for mobile device seizure will be discussed in depth. Attendees will be introduced to various tools that are available for mobile device data recovery, and go through forensics reports to understand the artifacts of importance that can be used for a case. In part 2, attendees will take a cell phone forensic report and use Excel to parse through the data in a more logical and timely manner. Additionally, the presenter will examine the unique concerns of cloud computing and the impact in investigations. 

With 95 million photos being shared daily, Instagram is a major player in the social networking world. Participants will be shown 3 ways to search Instagram: using the Instagram search engine on the web, searching Instagram through Google advanced and Boolean operators, and also be introduced to third-party resources that can be used to search Instagram all without having an Instagram account. Instagram searching for profiles, keywords, hashtags, and geographical information will all be covered in this hands-on computer lab. Also, techniques to search Instagram through the mobile app using an Android emulator will be discussed, as well as ways to save data from the web. 

A Wi–Fi access point can be a data source to tell an investigator who showed up and when. During this hands-on computer lab, the attendees will interpret router logs to identify specific devices that have been connected to a Wi–Fi access point. Additionally, a person’s phone and computer innately tracks all of the previously connected Wi–Fi networks. Wouldn’t it be nice to match these networks to physical locations? The presenter will also demonstrate how to take the Wi–Fi access points from phones and computers, and plot them using open source SSID and BSSID tracking tools. 

For most of human history, everything we interacted with existed in our three-dimensional world. We experienced life through our physical senses. We interacted with people and objects physically. The forensic sciences evolve to help investigators make sense of physical clues left behind in a terrestrial world. In a generation, we have experienced a quantum shift in how we interact with the world around us. We are surrounded by an invisible fourth-dimension of information technology with which we interact every day. Forensic sciences have since evolved to help investigators make sense of the digital clues left behind. This hands-on computer lab will introduce investigators, advocates, and anyone interested in knowing where truth might be hiding to many of the most common sources of technology evidence. Developing an awareness of technology artifacts helps those who advocate for the truth, advocate more effectively. You cannot seek that which you do not know exists. This course will arm you with an understanding of what technology artifacts might exist related to the crime you are confronting. 

This hands-on computer lab will introduce the must-have software and methodologies that can be used by investigators to enhance and save digital evidence. Topics will include browsers and add-ons, such as the SEARCH Investigative and Forensic Toolbar and DumpItBlue. Other software that will be introduced includes: Youtube-dl (Saving web videos), VLC (Playing and manipulating videos), Irfanview (Viewing images and EXIF information), and Audacity (Audio editing). Google services such as Images (To search only images as well as reverse image searching techniques) and Scholar (To search only legal journals) will also be covered. 

This hands-on computer lab will address the collection of potential evidence from running devices at the scene of a search warrant or a probation/parole/consent search. Topics will include ram dumping, using a bit locker key grabber, logical volume imaging, and tips on photographing evidence/information displayed on a running computer. 

Geolocation information is increasingly present in modern investigations, whether from cell tower records, EXIF information from photos, or location information from social media. Google Earth is a free tool that can be leveraged to support law enforcement investigations, and create effective visuals investigators, prosecutors, and juries can understand. This hands-on computer lab will introduce attendees to Google Earth and the tools to plot geolocation information and create effective visuals. 

With every website and app comes new challenges to writing legal process. This hands-on computer lab will show you how to identify where to send your legal process, web resources for knowing what each company keeps, how to write legal process to recover it, and resources for finding information when the go-to data sources come up short.