by Police - Bureau of Police Research and Development

The Indian Police Journal• To prevent the occurrence of Cyber Crime in vulnerableinstitutions like Industry, Government organization, aircraft andother critical infrastructure requiring security from loss, pilferageand mishandling by accidental or intentional manipulations.Computers or Networks can be used as a tool for committing a crime.Computer or Networks can be the targets of a crime. Computer orNetworks can be used for incidental purposes related to crime. Digitalevidence can be on standalone systems, Networks or Internet. Good Illustration given below represents the evidence recognition trianglestarting from the electronic crime scene till such time the case is triedin the court.A formal Cyber Forensics Methodology is essential for globalrequirement. Evidence collected from various sources must be testedfor authenticity, reliability, completeness and be free from interferenceor contamination. Various phases that are involved in Cyber Forensicslife cycle or, in other words, Digital Forensics processing cycle involve:Initial assessment of the case under investigation is followed bythe collection phase. Digital evidence collection must be madefrom varying number of storage devices, perimeter devices andthe Internet. The next stage involves the preservation of theevidence. Since Cyber Forensics involves evidence collectionfrom different storage media, due care has to undertaken toensure evidence integrity and legality. The media from whichthe information is to be collected must not be exposed to heat,102 January - March, 2013