Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 85 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-65).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 316 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-316).

D.Phil.(Computer Science) / We are living in an increasingly complex world in which much of society is dependent on technology and its various offshoots and incarnations (Rogers & Siegfried, 2004). There is ample evidence of the influence of technology on our daily lives. We communicate via e-mail, use chat groups to interact and conduct business by using e-commerce. People relate each other’s existence to a presence on Facebook. The convergence of the products, systems and services of information technology is changing the way of living. The latest smart and cell phones have cameras, applications, and access to social networking sites. These phones contain sensitive information, for example photographs, e-mail, spread sheets, documents, and presentations. The loss of a cell phone therefore may pose a serious problem to an individual or an organisation, when considering privacy and intellectual property issues from an information security (Info Sec) perspective (Pieterse, 2006). Organisations have accepted the protection of information and information assets as a fundamental business requirement and managers are therefore implementing an increasing number of security counter measures, such as security policies, intrusion detection systems, access control mechanisms, and anti-virus products to protect the information and information assets from potential threats. However, incidents still occur, as no system is 100% secure. The incidents must be investigated to determine their root cause and potentially to prosecute the perpetrators (Louwrens, von Solms, Reeckie & Grobler, 2006b). Humankind has long been interested in the connection between cause and event, wishing to know what happened, what went wrong and why it happened. The need for computer forensics emerged when an increasing number of crimes were committed with the use of computers and the evidence required was stored on the computer. In 1984, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) laboratory began to examine computer evidence (Barayumureeba & Tushabe, 2004), and in 1991 the international association of computer investigation specialists (IACIS) in Portland, Oregon coined the term ‘computer forensics’ during a training session.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Also available in print.

This study has a twofold purpose in that it attempts to identify how knowledgeable investigators are about the collection and use of DNA in relation to the building of a criminal case, and to establish how optimally DNA as evidence is utilised. The study has revealed several shortcomings which render the use of DNA evidence inadmissible in criminal proceedings. The researcher also analysed other aspects relating to DNA evidence, namely: identification, individualisation, criminal investigation, forensic investigation, and objectives of criminal investigation. For criminal investigators to be successful in their investigation of cases involving DNA, it is imperative for them to have a clear understanding of the basic concepts surrounding DNA investigations and the value of DNA evidence. It is submitted that, because of a lack of knowledge in DNA-related investigations by detectives, a lack of training in DNA-related cases and delays in the collection of DNA evidence, valuable evidence is often lost and/or contaminated. This causes such evidence to become inadmissible in criminal proceedings, and has a negative impact on the conviction rate for such crimes. / Preface in English and Afrikaans / Hierdie studie het ’n tweevoudige doel in die poging om te identifiseer hoe kundig ondersoekers is aangaande die insameling en gebruik van DNA in terme van die bou van ’n kriminele saak en die vasstel van hoe DNA optimal [sic] as bewys gebruik kan word. Die studie het getoon dat daar verskeie tekortkominge is wat teweeg gebring het dat die gebruik van DNA bewys onaanvaarbaar was in kriminele prosedure. Die navorser het ook ander aspekte geanaliseer aangaande DNA bewyse, naamlik: identifikasie, individualisering van onderwerpe tydens ondersoek, kriminele ondersoek, forensiese ondersoek, en die aspekte van kri-minele ondersoeke. Vir die kriminele ondersoekers om suksesvol te wees in hulle ondersoek van sake waarby DNA betrokke is, is dit vir hulle van kardinale belang om ’n suiwere begrip van die basiese konsep rondom DNA ondersoeke en die waarde van DNA bewyse te hê. Dit is voortgebring dat, as gevolg van die tekort aan kennis in DNA ondersoeke, asook opleiding van DNA-sake by die speurders, en vertraging in die versameling van DNA bewysstukke, waardevolle bewyse is telkens verlore of gekontamineer. Dit veroorsaak dat sulke bewyse verwerp word in kriminele prosesse, en het ’n negatiewe impak op die vonnis statestieke [sic] vir sulke misdade. / Criminology / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Forensic social work is a fairly new concept in the South African context. However, the activities of forensic social work began with the dawn of the profession itself. In recent times the demand for social workers in court has spiraled. The researcher endeavored to explore the perceptions and experiences of social workers functioning in the courts. Further, the problems that they encountered were also examined. The results of this qualitative study stem from in-depth interviews with thirteen social workers. The main findings indicate that the majority of social workers had not received any training in legal processes prior to their first experience in court. Social workers also perceived legal officials to be lacking in training in respect of child related issues. Social workers are generally called to testify in relation to their expertise of a specific child, and not in relation to their expertise of subject matter. In view of the demands placed upon social workers to appear in court, it is recommended that social workers endeavor to organise themselves into a group that can lobby for the recognition of social workers as experts. It is the researcher's contention that such a concerted effort by social workers will improve the status of the profession in the legal system. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.

published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In computer forensics, digital evidence related to time is both important and complex. The rules of changes in time associated with digital evidence, such as files or folders, can be used to analyze certain user behaviors like data access, modification or transfer. However, the format and the rules in time information for user actions are quite different for different file systems, even for different versions of operating systems with the same file system. Some research on temporal analysis has already been done on NTFS and FAT file systems, while there are few resources that describe temporal analysis on the Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+), the default file system in Apple computer. Moreover, removable devices like USB disks are used frequently; transferring files and folders between different devices with different file systems and operating systems happens more and more frequently, so the changes of times across different file systems are also crucial in digital forensics and investigations. In this research, the changes in time attributes of files and folders resulting from user actions on the HFS+ file system and across file systems are analyzed, and the rules of time are generated by inductive reasoning to help reconstruct crime scenes in the digital forensic investigation. Since inductive reasoning is not definitely true compared with deductive reasoning, experiments are performed to validate the rules. The usage of the rules is demonstrated by analyzing a case in details. The methods proposed here are efficient, practical and easy to put into practice in real scenarios. / published_or_final_version / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy