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Is Cyber Investigation Real?

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Cybertrace Team

July 12, 2024 · 7 min read

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Online Cyber Investigators conducting a real cyber investigation assisted by cyber intelligence.

Is Cyber Investigation real or just something you see in true crime shows? The simple answer to this question is, yes, Cyber Investigation is real. While regular detectives might look for clues or hidden traces in the physical environment, Cyber investigators use digital tools and specialist techniques to identify cyber intelligence from the traces that offenders leave online, even if they have attempted to cover their tracks.

Cyber Investigations are often conducted to identify and respond to online crimes such as phishing scams, cyber frauds, identity theft, online harassment and cyberbullying. Cyber investigators often look at how cybercrimes occur while working to uncover who is behind them. Cyber investigators are guided by cyber intelligence at every step of their practice.

Why Do People Hire Cyber Investigators?

Quite commonly, Cyber Investigators identify offenders by gathering evidence online and presenting it in a way that will stand up in courts of law. To do this, Cyber Investigators engage specially-designed tools and advanced analytical methodologies. 

Cyber Investigators’ special tools and up-to-date knowledge of analytical investigative processes enables them to identify and assess evidence. Once assessed, Cyber Investigators then piece evidence together in a process of discovery, where eventually individuals are confirmed or ruled out as offenders. This forms the foundation for identifying cyber criminals and the methods they’ve used to commit crimes in cyberspace.

Cybertrace’s Cyber Investigations team contains a number of divisions. One specific area of our expertise is cyber forensics. This is a focused area of cyber investigation dedicated to identifying and analysing cybercrimes involving websites. With our advanced techniques, we are skilled in combatting online investment fraud and phishing attacks.

Our forensic expertise includes uncovering evidence from the infrastructure of websites, mainly to identify the individuals and entities behind malicious websites. 

Across all of our teams, Cybertrace’s investigatory processes are meticulous and robust. Equally, the evidence that our Cyber Investigations teams compile routinely stands up in courts of law.  

What are the Types of Cyber Investigation?

A brief view in conducting one of the types of cyber investigation called network forensic investigation.

Addressing cybercrime is a key area of cyber investigations at Cybertrace, however, there are other functions that we serve such as locating individuals, otherwise known as skip tracing. 

Broadly, however, Cyber investigations can be divided into categories each with a range of objectives, methods and tools. These are discussed below.

Cyber Intelligence-based Investigation

Intelligence in the context of cybercrime involves the collection, analysis and interpretation of information related to criminal activities conducted in cyberspace. It is concerned with understanding the methods, motives and actors behind cybercriminal activities. It is important to distinguish this from cyber threat intelligence, which is more about identifying potential security threats.

Financial Investigations

Financial investigations are conducted to identify, locate and potentially convict individuals and entities engaged in financial crimes. These kinds of investigations also play a vital role in recovering stolen money and preventing further theft. Investigations of this type are important for maintaining the integrity of financial institutions and the Internet in general, along with the obvious goal of protecting customers from financial crime.

Private Cyber Investigation

A private cyber investigation is a specialised service provided by private investigators or firms who use digital tools to uncover intelligence about individuals, businesses or organisations. These investigations are distinct from those conducted by law enforcement and often cater to clients who need discreet and tailored solutions to their specific problems.

What are the 5 Stages of Cyber Investigation?

A cyber investigator following the 5 stages of online cyber investigation to stop crime.

At Cybertrace, we take a systematic and rigorous approach to cyber investigations. We do this because it is the only way to ensure that evidence is revealed and presented effectively. Effective cyber investigations generally follow five key stages to ensure their evidence can hold up in a legal context:

  • Identification

This stage involves identifying the devices, data and information relevant to the investigation. Investigators recognise relevant sources of digital evidence, such as computers, mobile devices and online accounts. Critical skills are engaged as part of this stage to parse what facts pertain to and strengthen the case. Due attention in the identification stage ensures that no important data source is overlooked.

  • Preservation

In the second phase, cyber investigators focus on securing and preserving the identified data to prevent tampering or loss. This process involves creating copies of digital evidence, sometimes referred to as forensic images. This is often done in order to preserve the integrity of the original data during analysis. Proper preservation ensures that the evidence remains unchanged. This is crucial for its admissibility in legal proceedings, especially considering the ever morphing and shifting nature of cyber spaces. Preservation also involves the safe and secure storage of original data, documentation of the preservation process, and later, archiving of data in a way that is compliant with relevant privacy and investigations legislation.

  • Analysis

The analysis stage of a cyber investigation is where the collected data is carefully examined to reveal whether it consists of evidence relevant and cyber intelligence to the case at hand. Investigators use specialised tools and techniques to examine the data for patterns, anomalies and specific information related to the investigation. This could include analysing metadata, source code analysis, data fingerprinting, verifying the authenticity of files and language analysis. The objective is to piece together the sequence of events, the methods the cybercriminals have used and understanding the context of the cyber incident or crime.

  • Documentation

This stage involves recording the specific findings and methods used during the investigation. Detailed and accurate documentation is important as it provides a comprehensive account of the investigative process so that its findings can become actionable cyber intelligence.  Meticulous documentation guarantees transparency and supports effective presentation of the findings to clients or in courts of law.

  • Presentation

The final stage of a cyber investigation is presenting the findings to clients, legal authorities and/or other stakeholders. This is a crucial phase because if findings are not accessible to readers, they are rendered effectively redundant. Cybertrace’s Cyber Investigations team are highly skilled at explaining evidence, the process of collecting it, and the investigation’s conclusions in a manner which can be digested easily but without losing complexity. Our reports are often accompanied by visual aids like charts, tables and timelines. Our wealth of experience tells us that the presentation must be clear and concise to ensure that non-technical audiences can make sense of the cyber intelligence we have identified and use it to restore justice and peace of mind in their world.

Examples of Cyber Crimes

Cyber criminals conducting an illegal online activity called cyber crime.

Cybercrimes consist of a range of illegal activities conducted through digital means, each with particular characteristics and impacts.

  • Phishing

Cybercriminals use phishing to obtain personal information through misleading emails or messages. This can lead to identity theft and financial fraud​​.

  • Cyber Fraud

Cyber fraud includes deceptive practices like creating fake websites or email scams to trick victims into providing money or personal information, causing financial and reputational damage​.

  • Identity Theft

Identity theft involves stealing personal information, such as credit card numbers or social security numbers with the intent of committing fraud. This can result in unauthorised transactions and damaged credit scores for the victims​.

Contact us

Have you been impacted by a cyber crime and need assistance? Reach out to the Cybertrace team of experts. Our online investigators are here to help guide and resolve your digital concerns.

Questions for the readers

Have you ever experienced or been affected by a cybercrime?

This post was revised on 13 November 2024 for improved readability and accuracy.

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