The Use of Technology to Enhance Investigation

Transcription

1 The Use of Technology to Enhance Investigation Of High Profile Corruption Cases. Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

2 Objectives By the end of this keynote, participants will be knowledgeable on: 1. Open Source Intelligence and how it can be used to gather evidence for investigation; 2. How government agencies database are useful for investigations; and 3. Private Digital Sources of Evidence.

3 Introduction It s not always about interview or confessional statements. Looking outside the box or outside the obvious. Connecting the dots; using what s available to obtain what is not so readily available

4 Elements to consider: Does the person(s) involved own a smartphone?does this person own a laptop? Does he/she have an address? Is he/she on Facebook or any social media? How about their family members? What online/offline presence do they have?

5 Basic types of technology used in gathering 50 information for investigation Open Source. Agencies Database. Private Private Digital The higher the difficulty in obtaining, the greater the result/yield. First pass through OS and AD to know what to look out for in PD. PD is most accurate, OS is least accurate

6 Open Source Intelligence Publicly available information that anyone can lawfully obtain by request, purchase, or observation. Nigeria s 2011 enactment of the FOI Act makes public records & information more accessible to the general public foia.justice.gov.ng Internet has become a primary source of information since Nigeria embraced the worldwide web in mid-2000.

7 Open Source Intelligence 2015: 52% of Nigeria s population are internet users with social media-related sites being the most visited websites on the web. Most federal and many state bodies in Nigeria have websites where some of their basic information and resources are made available to the public e.g. Rivers State Judiciary website

8 Examples of Open Source

9 Examples of Open Source Intelligence Freedom of Information Act (resources) foia.justice.gov.ng Debt management Office Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Twitter Public search of registered companies Instagram Wikis

10 Some Politically Exposed Persons/Family on SM

11 Usefulness of Open Source Primarily: to identify and verify a wide range of facts: personal identity addresses phone numbers addresses photograph property records vehicle information spending information directors of a company Friends & associates Family members Location on a said day etc.

12 Government Agencies Database Some agencies have registers like CBN (BVN register), FRSC (registered vehicles), NIS (travel information) Access to these registers is allowed to law enforcement agencies directly on presenting proper identification or obtaining necessary judicial or administrative authority Ongoing National ID card registration by NIMC

13 Private Digital Sources of Evidence What are these? Information and data of value to an investigation that is stored on, received, or transmitted by an electronic device. Acquired when data or electronic devices are seized and secured for examination

14 Examples of Private Digital Sources of Evidence Computers Source Examples Call logs, SMS sent & received, contact list; Documents and files created by user e.g. from Microsoft Word/Excel; search engine history Mobile Devices Social Media Platforms, Instant Messaging platforms, GPS, search engine history, photos, videos, contacts etc Removable media & external storage Electronic Money Calendars s, notes, letters Flash drives, Hard Drives, Memory cards Mobile banking, online banking platforms Digital & physical; Set reminders Sent and received mail; draft mail; hard copy letters, notes around the office, notes stored in computers & phones Telephone Records Accounting or Record Keeping software Call logs, SMS sent & received, obtained from the network provider Sage, Peachtree, Microsoft Excel etc.

15 Using Private Digital Sources of Evidence Useful in investigations, tracing assets and can be used in Court Investigator may need physical access to this information by obtaining the relevant devices, passwords, fingerprint, etc from the subject

16 Using Private Digital Sources of Evidence obtaining this level of information requires a specialised process of collection, preservation, and analysis before its presentation for litigation and that these activities require the assistance of a digital forensic expert A government with the political will to fight corruption in Nigeria must equip the Investigation departments of the anti-corruptions agencies (ACAs) with relevant tools and budget to employ or contract with experts in this discipline

17 Single types of Private Digital Evidence 25% 25% Hash Values Metadata Mobile phones & cellular systems s 25% 25%

18 PD: Hash Values Technically, a hash value is is a string value (of specific length), which is the result of calculation of a Hashing Algorithm Simply, it is the fingerprints for files. The contents of a file are processed through a cryptographic algorithm and the hash value is the result that helps to identify the contents of the file.

19 PD: Hash Values Use of Hash Values: to verify that the forensic image of the digital evidence has not been modified and is exactly the same as the original. If the contents are modified in any way, the value of the hash will also change significantly. To discover hidden files on a computer; this is useful when the hash value of the original file is known To determine whether or not, a file with a known hash value is on a particular computer

20 PD: Metadata This is information that is stored about another data Useful for investigators because it answers questions about files and documents Metadata is usually found in electronic documents, pictures, webpages, browsers & file systems

21 Metadata showing browser history PD: Metadata

22 PD: s is fast becoming one of the richest sources of evidence available to investigators. This is due to the following: users often use it informally and for work; users believe that s can easily be deleted s can easily be copied or forwarded by the investigator

23 PD: s Information that can be retrieved from an contents, sender s identification and location, receiver s identification. s may be found on personal devices like computers, phones, tablets & ipads. s are difficult to delete because most s have 4 copies in different places.

24 PD: s - 4 copies of s in different locations

25 PD: Mobile Phones & Cellular Systems The usage of mobile phones by suspects, gives investigators access to: data stored on the cell phone such as text messages, contact list,pictures and other documents. call log information which reveals: date and time a call was made or received; the number that called or received the call, whether it was a voice call, data call, or SMS

26 PD: Mobile Phones & Cellular Systems The usage of mobile phones by suspects, gives investigators access to: Cell phone location: this might not be the exact position but reveals the general area which corresponds to the radius of coverage of the cell tower (mast) that was connected to the phone at that time

27 Basic types of technology used in gathering 50 information for investigation Open Source. Agencies Database. Private Private Digital The higher the difficulty in obtaining, the greater the result/yield. First pass through OS and AD to know what to look out for in PD. PD is most accurate, OS is least accurate

28 Conclusion: Call-to-Action Google the PEPs you are investigating try to get ALL the FREE information about them first Open Source Check with the Agencies Databases everything you can find about PEP and their family. We recommend that Investigating agencies sign MoUs with the agencies they usually work with to grant access to their investigators upon proper identification. Infrastructure & engagement of digital forensic experts