Techno Security’s Guide to E-Discovery and Digital Forensics

As we started to put together the various pieces of this book, I was tempted to call this chapter “The Chapter That Wasn’t.”The subject matter for this chapter has been of major concern for close to two decades.That doesn’t sound like a long time, but it is in the world of computer security.This subtle subject is one we don’t often hear mentioned, but it could easily bring organizations to their techno knees if they don’t take it seriously. I started to leave it out of the book because most of what you will read in this chapter describes the potential vulnerabilities of modem access, and I just wasn’t sure whether there were that many modems still out there. I found out recently that I was very wrong. Having been a technician in the world of computers for more than 30 years, I’ve seen many of my friends bubble to the top of their professions. Just for fun, I called a few of them and asked for their opinions regarding the current vulnerabilities associated with modem access.The answer surprised me. It seems there are more modems out there than I could have imagined. Many of these modems are connected to critical computers running even more critical applications controlling huge organizations.That answer from these well-respected experts let me know that this chapter, in which I use authentication issues while trying to gain access to modems, is critical to the rest of the book. When I mentioned to several other authors of chapters in this book that I was going to write about this topic, every one of them agreed that the subject of authentication needs to be considered before a forensic exam takes place. If I am able to get your password and log in to a computer or network as you, and do all kinds of bad things, guess who’s in trouble when the forensic examination takes place? It won’t be me, at least from the technical evidence found in the forensic exam