Where do you see game systems evolving in the digital crime area?

Digital crime has evolved very rapidly in the recent past, from simple fraud to extremely complex targeted and Advanced Persistence Threats (APT). Digital crime poses a substantive threat to individual and national security, both online and offline. Digital gaming is also evolving from simple offline games to sophisticated multiuser strategic online games (Tambe, 2012.).

With the influx in the number of online games and mobile devices, many unaware end users have become prone to digital crime (Brown & Roth, 2012). For instance, an individual may download a cracked game from the website not knowing that it has an embedded malware. The nature of gaming systems and applications as a threat is constantly evolving, propelled by aggressive technological innovation. Gaming systems have also become a form of criminal collaboration online (Tambe, 2012.). There are emerging online communities intended to design free software keys or unlocking software. This is a form of digital crime since copyright rules and intellectual property rights are violated. Some game patches and cheats are intentionally designed to plant root kits in target systems (Tambe, 2012.). These root kits are then remotely executed to steal data or harm other entities. There are also increasing trends in counterfeiting proprietary games as well as organized DVD copying communities online.

The current gaming industry also characterized with online monetary transactions. Given that personal and financial details are involved, buyers are easily targeted for their private data (Brown & Roth, 2012). Game systems encompass much more than what computer end users perceive. They consist of numerous programming codes prone to exploitation by computer hackers. Over the last few years, digital systems have been innovated to include numerous designs and platforms. In most setups, computer games have not been considered as threats or chains for network breaches. Consequently, gaming systems create tunnels or ports that can be easily breached by malicious people online.

Mobile gaming systems are also rapidly gaining popularity, especially among teenagers (Long, 2012). The potential growth of this segment of the digital games market remains strong because many consumers are using smart-handheld gadgets for games from various vendors. Mobile apps games are also avenues for targeted attacks because some are free from open source markets.

Discussion Topic 2: There are many potential sources of digital evidence in a corporate setting. Where places are an investigator may find information beyond a computer workstation or cell phone? How can the forensic artifacts be retrieved?

Digital forensics is a field in forensic science that deals with the investigation, recovery, preservation and presentation of digital evidence of material found in digital devices linked to a crime. There are several potential sources of digital evidence. The primary sources are tapes, web pages, images, video, sound files, hard disks and portable/external storage media.

An investigator can as well search for digital evidence in the network infrastructure logs.  These include third party service providers, firewalls, internet protocol addresses, router logs, and proxies (Casey E. , 2004). Network forensics involves monitoring and analysis of either traffic flow in a LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network). Network analysis can reveal intrusions or abuse.

Digital evidence can also be gathered from application audit files. Structured data from an application systems can be examined for fraudulent activities. Evidence can also be collected through software forensics (Vacca, 2002). This involves examining malicious software code or malware.

Other sources include emails, web servers and databases. A forensic investigator may study the linked database and their metadata (Casey & Turvey, 2011). Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) keeps logs of all transactions, time and users. Data mining techniques can be employed to establish patterns used to recover relevant information. Lastly, an investigator can carry out live system forensics on system abuse, real-time transactions and subscriber account information.

Forensic artifacts are records of the custodial history of the digital evidence. The process of retrieving forensic artifacts depends on how the evidence was preserved. However, the records have to be authenticated, processed and analyzed (Gubanov, 2012). Digital evidence has to have integrity and authenticity to be admissible in any case (Vacca, 2002). Most computer transactions are often accompanied with timestamps. Automated forensic tools are preferred to manual search or extraction when retrieving timestamps or forensic copies.  Retrieved forensic artifacts must be the exact bit-by –bit copy of the evidence to ensure the integrity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Brown, P., & Roth, M. S. (2012). Information technology law institute 2012 : innovations in apps, e-books, cybersecurity, mobile technology, privacy and social media. New York : Practising Law Institute.

Casey, E. (2004). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers and the Internet. San Dieg0: Academic Press.

Casey, E., & Turvey, B. E. (2011). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime (3rd ed.). San Diego,California: Academic Press.

Gubanov, Y. (2012). Retrieving Digital Evidence – Methods, Techniques and Issues. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from Belkasoft: http://belkasoft.com/download/info/Retrieving%20Digital%20Evidence%20-%20Methods,%20Techniques%20and%20Issues.pdf

Long, J. (2012, June 27). The Transition of the Video Game Industry. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from Seagate: consumer.media.seagate.com/2012/06/the-digital-den/the-transition-of-the-video-game-industry/

Tambe, M. (2012.). Security and game theory : algorithms, deployed systems, lessons learned. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Vacca, J. (2002). Computer Forensics Computer Crime Scene Investigations. Revere, MA: Charles River Media.