Computer hacking forensic investigation is the process of detecting hacking attacks and properly extracting evidence to report the crime and conduct audits to prevent future attacks.
Computer crime in today’s cyber world is on the rise. Computer Investigation techniques are being used by police, government and corporate entities globally and many of them turn to EC-Council for our Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator CHFI Certification Program. Computer Security and Computer investigations are changing terms. More tools are invented daily for conducting Computer Investigations, be it computer crime, digital forensics, computer investigations, or even standard computer data recovery, The tools and techniques covered in EC-Council’s CHFI program will prepare the student to conduct computer investigations using groundbreaking digital forensics technologies.
Computer forensics is simply the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques in the interests of determining potential legal evidence. Evidence might be sought in a wide range of computer crime or misuse, including but not limited to theft of trade secrets, theft of or destruction of intellectual property, and fraud. CHFI investigators can draw on an array of methods for discovering data that resides in a computer system, or recovering deleted, encrypted, or damaged file information known as computer data recovery.
Electronic evidence is critical in the following situations:
◉ Disloyal employees
◉ Computer break-ins
◉ Possession of pornography
◉ Breach of contract
◉ Industrial espionage
◉ E-mail Fraud
◉ Bankruptcy
◉ Disputed dismissals
◉ Web page defacements
◉ Theft of company documents.
Become a Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator
The CHFI certification validate the candidate’s skills to identify an intruder’s footprints and to properly gather the necessary evidence to prosecute in the court of law.
Certification Target Audience
◉ Police and other law enforcement personnel
◉ Defense and Military personnel
◉ e-Business Security professionals
◉ Systems administrators
◉ Legal professionals
◉ Banking, Insurance and other professionals
◉ Government agencies
◉ IT managers
Exam Information
The CHFI certification is awarded after successfully passing the exam EC0 312-49.
CHFI EC0 312-49 exams are available at ECC exam center around the world.
CHFI Exam Details
CHFI Exam Details
Duration
4 Hours
Questions
150
Passing Criteria:
In order to maintain the high integrity of our certifications exams, EC-Council Exams are provided in multiple forms (I.e. different question banks). Each form is carefully analyzed through beta testing with an appropriate sample group under the purview of a committee of subject matter experts that ensure that each of our exams not only have academic rigor but also have "real world" applicability. We also have a process to determine the difficulty rating of each question . The individual rating then contributes to an overall "Cut Score" for each exam form. To ensure each form has equal assessment standards, cut scores are set on a "per exam form" basis. Depending on which exam form is challenged, cut scores can range from 60% to 85%.
Clause: Age Requirements and Policies Concerning Minors
The age requirement for attending the training or attempting the exam is restricted to any candidate that is at least 18 years old.
If the candidate is under the age of 18, they are not eligible to attend the official training or eligible to attempt the certification exam unless they provide the accredited training center/EC-Council a written consent of their parent/legal guardian and a supporting letter from their institution of higher learning. Only applicants from nationally accredited institution of higher learning shall be considered.
Digital devices surround our world in 2021. The immediate thought we get of a digital device is a computer, mobile phone, or internet. But the rise of IoT has made every electronic device a source of digital evidence. For instance, a built-in TV can be used to store, view, and share illegal images. Digital forensics experts, who are the first responders in this case, need to recognize and be able to properly seize every potential digital device for evidence.
If you are keen on a career as a forensic investigator to serve your community and help solve crimes, this blog will serve as your introduction to collecting digital evidence, along with the best path forward to pursue a calling in this exciting field.
What Is Digital Evidence?
Digital evidence can be defined as the information or valuable data stored on a computer or a mobile device that was seized by a law enforcement organization as part of a criminal investigation.
Digital evidence is commonly associated with e-crime (Electronic Crime), such as credit card fraud or child pornography. The information stored or transmitted in binary form on a computer hard drive, a mobile phone, or any other electronic device can be used as digital evidence by the forensic responders in a court of law. This evidence can include files on emails or mobile phones of the suspects, which could be critical to track their intent and location at the time of the crime and the searches they made on search platforms like Google or YouTube.
The types of evidences that a digital forensic examiner must consider are:
1. Analogical Evidence
This kind of evidence can only be useful for increasing credibility by drawing parallels when there isn’t enough information to prove something in a workplace investigation, but it cannot be produced as evidence in a court of law.
2. Anecdotal Evidence
This type of evidence can only be used to get a better picture of an issue and to support a particular conclusion, but cannot be used in court as evidence.
3. Circumstantial Evidence
This type of evidence is used to infer something based on a series of facts. It can be used in criminal investigations to separate facts from other facts that can be proven when no strong evidence is considered.
4. Character Evidence
This is a document or testimony that can help prove that the actions were taken in a particular way based on another person’s character. It can be used to prove intent, motive, or opportunity.
5. Digital Evidence
Digital evidence can be any sort of digital file from an electronic source. This includes email, text messages, instant messages, files and documents extracted from hard drives, electronic financial transactions, audio files, and video files.
6. Demonstrative Evidence
A document or an object which demonstrates a fact can be considered as demonstrative evidence.
7. Documentary Evidence
Written forms of evidence such as letters or wills, documentary forms of media evidence such as images, audio recordings, or video formats.
8. Direct Evidence
The testimony of a witness who can give a first-hand account of the incident is the most powerful type of evidence.
9. Exculpatory Evidence
A law enforcement personnel can disclose any exculpatory evidence to the defendant that they think can help the case get dismissed.
10. Forensic Evidence
Scientific evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, trace evidence, and ballistic reports comes under forensic evidence, providing solid proof for a person’s guilt or innocence.
11. Testimonial Evidence
Spoken or written evidence given by a witness forms the most common type of evidence.
What Are the Types of Digital Evidence?
There are basically two types of digital evidence:
◉ Volatile, which is non-persistent: Memory that loses its content once the power is turned off like data stored in RAM (semiconductor storage).
◉ Non-volatile, which is persistent: No change in content even if the power is turned off. For example, data stored in a tape, hard drive, CD/DVD, and ROM.
Digital evidence can be found on any server or device that stores data, including some new home gadgets such as video game consoles, GPS sports watches, and internet-enabled devices used in home automation. Digital evidence is often found through internet searches using open-source intelligence (OSINT).
Digital evidence encompass any sort of digital file from an electronic device. This includes email, text messages, instant messages, files, and documents extracted from hard drives, electronic financial transactions, audio files, video files.
The five rules while gathering digital evidence are admissible, authentic, complete, reliable, and believable.
How to Perform Digital Evidence Acquisition and Analysis?
Digital evidence collection essentially involves a 3-step sequential process:
◉ Seizing the available electronic media.
◉ Acquiring and creating a forensic image of the electronic media for examination.
◉ Analyzing the forensic image of the original media. This ensures that the original media is not modified during analysis and helps preserve the probative value of the evidence.
Large-capacity electronic devices seized as evidence in a criminal investigation, such as computer hard drives and external drives, may be 1 terabyte (TB) or larger. This is equivalent to about 17,000 hours of compressed recorded audio. Today, media can be acquired forensically at approximately 1.5 gigabytes (GB) per minute. The forensically acquired media is stored in a RAW image format, which results in a bit-for-bit copy of the data contained in the original media without any additions or deletions, even for the portions of the media that do not contain data.
Examples of Digital Evidence
These are the digital evidences that a court of law considers and allows the use of:
◉ Emails
◉ Digital photographs
◉ ATM transaction logs
◉ Word processing documents
◉ Instant messages history
◉ Accounting files
◉ Spreadsheets
◉ Internet browser history
◉ Databases
◉ Contents in a computer memory
◉ Computer backups & printouts
◉ GPS Tracks
◉ Digital video
◉ Audio files
Challenges of Digital Evidence
Collecting digital evidence requires a different kind of skill set than those required for gathering physical evidence. There are many methods for extracting digital evidence from various devices, and these methods, as well as the devices on which the evidence is stored, change rapidly. Investigators need to either develop specific technical expertise or rely on experts to do the extraction for them.
Preserving digital evidence is also challenging because, unlike physical evidence, it can be altered or deleted remotely. Investigators need to be able to authenticate the evidence and provide documentation to prove its integrity.
Digital forensics or computer forensics is a forensics science branch that deals with the identification, recovery, and investigation of the materials found in digital devices when investigating computer-based crimes. Most organizations today are choosing to employ the services of digital forensics experts to collect information and evidence against intruders in addition to identifying them. In recent years, digital forensics has expanded to focus on mass storage devices. This led to an expansion in digital forensics certifications, which were necessary to accommodate the movement of digital crime activities outside the computer. Understandin how to choose the most appropriate digital forensics certification to become an expert in this field depends on the educational requirements, available certification options, and how various certifications line up against frameworks like NIST and NICE. Let’s dive in.
What Are the General Education Requirements for Digital Forensics Professionals?
A forensic computer analyst must be well informed on both computer programming and law enforcement standards. A bachelor’s degree is not always needed, but most employers ask for it. Related study areas at both the bachelor’s and advanced degree levels include IT, computer science, and criminal justice. For people without any of these advanced degrees, most employers will generally ask for proof of one’s background in the technical skills and knowledge of the profession from the successful completion of one of the several available digital forensics certifications.
What Are the Various Certification Options?
With a growing interest in digital forensics as a profession, many companies and associations have started offering certifications and specialized training. Some certifications offer skills in using specific software tools provided by the same companies that built them. Other certifications are provided by professional associations but are mostly available to current law enforcement employees. Selecting the right certification requires a balance between the education and experience that one has. Additionally, the skills which an individual has should complement the chosen certification.
Many of the people interested in digital forensics jobs enrol for a program that spans between 2 to 4 years, with certification courses like investigative techniques, mobile forensics, white-collar crime, computer ethics, and laws that interfere with the searching and confiscating of digital properties. Upon successful completion of a certification, a candidate can choose to work in cybersecurity, digital consulting, counterterrorism, or criminal investigation.
Entry-level programs are designed for high school graduates and require a solid base in mathematics, computer science, logic, and statistics. Advanced programs may need a bachelor’s degree in computer science and related degrees, in addition to specific certifications and competencies. Though most certifications are not well recognized, some certifications stand out from the rest. These are:
How Do Various Certifications Line Up Against Frameworks like NIST and NICE?
ACE: Access Data Certified Examiner
Access Data is the company that makes the Forensic Toolkit (FTK), which is a popular solution for digital investigations. The company also offers the Access Data Certified Examiner (ACE) certification, which covers the FTK Imager, Registry Viewer, Password Recovery Toolkit, and the FTK Examiner Application management window tools. The company recommends basic to moderate forensic knowledge before trying the certification. This may include understanding registry files, digital artifacts, hashing, encrypting and decrypting files, attack types, and how to utilize live and index searching. Recertification is needed every two years, with credential holders expected to pass the current ACE exam, which focuses on the most recent versions of FTK and other tools.
CFCE: Certified Forensic Computer Examiner
The CFCE credential was introduced by The International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists. This organization mainly leans towards offering these certifications to law enforcement personnel. This is because one must be employed in law enforcement to qualify as a regular IACIS membership. To get the CFCE certification, candidates are expected to show proficiency in CFCE core competencies. IACIS membership is required to attend this course. Candidates that finish the training course can enrol directly in the CFCE program upon completion of this certification. The CFCE exam has two steps — a peer review and CFCE certification testing.
CHFI: Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator
EC-Council is a training and certification organization whose specialties are penetration testing, digital forensics, and anti-hacking. The CHFI certification focuses on analytical techniques, forensics tools, and the procedures used in collecting, maintaining, and presenting digital forensic evidence and important data as legal proof in a court of law. EC-Council offers training for this certification, but candidates can appear for the exam without taking the course as long as they have a minimum of 2 years of information security experience. The CHFI course covers in-depth computer forensics, digital evidence, anti-forensics, network traffic, database, cloud forensics, mobile and email forensics, and policies and regulations.
Computer forensic training exposes students to how to deal with the process of gathering cyber-crime related proofs and files and thereby analyzing them totally to uncover any possible engagement with criminal activities and deceptive moves. This is one of the fields in which the military, intelligence companies, Corporations, and law enforcement concentrate. There is a protocol in which the computer forensics training highlights. It primarily concentrates on the meticulous observation of all evidence since these findings are to be presented before the court.
Computer forensic training gears up students with a full range of computer forensics skills; Students learn to construct digital forensics toolkits. They also establish skills to track a criminal on the web, define proper evidence dealing with treatments and learn how to deal with law enforcement firms. The trainees discover to apply tested investigative techniques and are lastly awarded the Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) certifications. Wide arrays of techniques are used to discover information hidden in a computer system. Experts are, in some cases, utilized to assist in recuperating erased, encrypted, or harmed file information. Any or all evidence acquired can be used for discovery, depositions, or actual litigation. People who are focused on computer forensics are often referred to as a CCE or a Certified Computer Examiner. Computer system forensic training includes a training program with online examinations.
Government companies and private sector companies have seen an increased need for computer forensics in previous years. The computer-based proof is typically utilized in cases where incriminating documents are most likely to be discovered on a computer like monetary fraud, data theft, and so on. Civil cases make use of organization and personal records found on computer systems for fraud, harassment, divorce and discrimination cases, etc.
Computer forensics training and intelligence
Computer forensic cover concerns like protocols and networks and the architecture of operating systems. They also consist of crime analysis and criminal offense scene management and courtroom/expert witness skills. In order to equal the ever-changing innovation and advances, course products for computer forensic training are upgraded continuously to keep candidates updated on the most current techniques and skills in the field of forensics. Trainees are qualified for Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) certification.
Taking a computer forensics training will also make it possible for the individual to make the most of the increasing need for computer system forensic experts. Computers are getting more sophisticated and more vital as the years go by. Most of them have also ended up being easier to use while being top-notch. Due to this, cyber-criminal activities have also increased. Computer forensics training concentrates on equipping you with the ability to flawlessly manage tasks such as retrieving the data which have been kept in an electronic gadget or any digital media. A computer system forensics private investigator can amazingly restore the deleted files and the training nonetheless hones such skill.
More so, numerous intelligence agencies such as the military and the police field see the need to utilize computer forensics in uncovering any motives or proofs to solve the criminal offenses that they deal with. Most of the time, suspects to the crime that uses the computer data in their delinquencies are tracked down by the computer forensics analyst. Anyone who is suspected of leakage or use any of the confidential information in a business to a 3rd party can be found out with the assistance of a computer forensics analyst. The training for computer forensics prepares the students with the essential certifications required for using the methods in response to the need of the task. The field of computer forensics is, however, expanding and the more several opportunities to grab for potential specialists.
The main job of a computer forensic private investigator is to restore both the actively and accidentally erased information. More so, the training also points out the most suitable tools and software to utilize on a case to case basis.
Responsibilities of a Computer Forensic Examiner
As a forensic computer analyst, you’ll need to: offer with extremely sensitive or confidential data or images, depending on the type of case you are investigating, use a variety of forensic tools and software to extract and examine data, secure a system or gadget so it cannot be damaged, recuperate harmed, deleted or access concealed, safeguarded or encrypted files, unlock digital images that are locked to hide the identity of a location or person, examine data from smartphones and satellite navigation systems to trace individuals or places, gather info and evidence in a legally acceptable way, present findings of on-going incidents to other members in the examination group, police and clients and also keep up to date with developing cyber-crime techniques and developments within the digital forensics field.
Credential Requirement
The certification program suggests competence in forensics techniques and treatments, standards of practice, and legal and ethical principles guarantee precise, total, and reliable digital proof permissible in a law court. It also indicates the ability to use forensics to other info security disciplines, such as e-discovery, malware analysis, or incident reaction.
There are no licensure examinations to be gone through just that there are particular credentials that should be provided. But before one can certify to handle the responsibilities designated for a private investigator, he has first to undergo the extensive computer system forensics training. Among the significant qualifications that one can provide are the official education bases such as the Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) or Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA) and many more.
Digital crimes are intensifying now and then, so there is the significance of computer system forensics experts in the fields of military forces, police, company corporations, and other related institutions. The purpose of the computer and digital forensics is to determine if a device was used for illegal purposes, ranging from computer hacking to storing illegal pornography or records of other illegal activity.
How do you get certified in forensic science?
The EC-Council is a well-known training and certification organization that specializes in the areas of anti-hacking, digital forensics, and penetration testing. The organization’s Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) certification emphasizes forensics tools, analytical techniques, and procedures involved in obtaining, maintaining, and presenting digital forensic evidence and data in a court of law.
The EC-Council offers training for this credential however allows challenging the exam without taking the course provided they have a minimum of 2 years of information security experience and paying a non-refundable $100 eligibility application cost.
The CHFI course covers a large range of topics and tools (click the exam Blueprint on the certification web page). Topics include an overview of digital forensics, in-depth coverage of the computer forensics examination process, working with a digital proof, anti-forensics, database, and cloud forensics, examining network traffic, mobile and email forensics, and principles, policies and policies. Courseware is readily available, in addition to instructor-led classroom training. The EC-Council provides many other accreditations of prospective value to readers interested in the CHFI. These include the Qualified Ethical Hacker (CEH), CEH (Practical), EC-Council Certified Security Expert (ECSA), ECSA Practical, Licensed Network Protector (CND) and Certified Penetration Tester (LPT), Qualified Application Security Engineer (CASE), and Certified Chief Information Gatekeeper (CCISO). It likewise uses qualifications in associated areas such as catastrophe healing, file encryption, and security analysis.
Having a degree in computer science, psychology, criminal justice, computer engineering, or any other related field with no IT experience doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be unable to pursue any digital forensics career. What it means is that you’ll need to take digital forensics courses, sign-up for an investigator certifications training, and become a self-driven and dogged learner.
With most career paths you stand to gain a lot when you have diverse work and real-world experiences. With no IT experience or prior forensics skills, you can still pursue any digital forensics career by signing-up for EC-Council’s Computer Hacking Forensics Investigation (C|HFI) certification program.
What Is Digital Forensics in Cybersecurity?
Digital forensics is also called cyber forensics. Digital forensics processes can be used to identify, analyses, preserve, and report digital clues or evidence to back up network vulnerability mitigation, prevent computer-based crimes or cyber frauds, serve as counterintelligence, and assist with law enforcement investigations.
If your digital forensics career is focused on cybersecurity, then you’ll be at the forefront in the battle against cybercrime. You would need to learn computer forensics to be able to handle network vulnerabilities and develop strategies that would help you mitigate them. Any organization that collects data from the cloud would benefit from digital forensics in cybersecurity.
As a cybersecurity expert or ethical hacker, you would also need in-depth knowledge about how to scrutinize networks, mobile devices, computers, and the cloud for evidence of criminal activities. Likewise, you’ll need to acquire skills on how to run counterintelligence against intruders, hackers, and other malicious actors.
What Do You do in Digital Forensics?
Digital forensics is a sub-field of forensic science that deals with the collection, investigation, analysis, recovery, documentation, and reporting of incidents, usually in relation to a mobile device, network, and computer crimes. It involves fighting digital crimes for law enforcement organizations by investigating and retrieving digital information that would offer evidence or clues required to prosecute the perpetrator.
Sometimes, computer forensics is used interchangeably with digital forensics. However, both fields are slightly different in that computer forensics focusses on the scientific analysis of computer-related crimes. While digital forensics encompasses all digital gadgets used for storing digital data including mobile devices, CDs, JPEGs, emails, hard drives, PCs, Desktops, and so on.
How Do I Start A Career In Digital Forensics?
Your eligibility for a digital forensics career is dependent on a number of factors and these factors vary from one organization to the next. While most private organizations will probably hire you, with or without an IT experience, in as much as you have the necessary degree. Larger institutions and government agencies are unlikely to hire you without certain years of work or hands-on experience.
◉ Degree requirements: You need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in the required fields. Examples include a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering, Cyber Security, or a Master of Science in Cyber Security with a specialization in digital forensic.
◉ Certifications: Your degree may not be enough to land you a job in larger organizations, you need to become certified. EC-Council offers Computer Hacking Forensics Investigation (C|HFI) certification program and other certifications in related fields including security analysis, encryption, and disaster recovery.
◉ Hard Skills: Your knowledge about computers, operating systems, digital forensic tools, hardware and software systems, and computing networks is critical.
◉ Soft Skills: As a good digital forensics investigator you need to have critical thinking skills, documenting, and report writing skills.
◉ Work Experience: The level of experience required is based on a number of factors. If you are applying for an internship position, you don’t need any experience. However, for entry-level forensic analyst jobs, you need 1 to 2 years of experience. For a senior-level job, you need 2 to 3 years of experience. Whereas, you need above 5 years of experience for a managerial position.
What Are Some Of The Challenges for Digital Forensics Career?
The challenges faced in digital forensic careers can be categorized into three groups, namely:
Legal Challenges
Digital forensics is somewhat of a new area for courts and the standing rules and regulations used to guide the prosecution of digital-based crimes, practices for computer forensics, and other legal precedents continue to change. Anyone charged with the responsibility of ensuring constant network security must be conversant with the legal consequences of digital forensics processes.
Digital forensics investigators must consider their technical activities and policy decisions in conjunction with existing legal regulations. These legal challenges include privacy issues, jurisdictional issues, and lack of standardized international legislation. It is becoming increasingly crucial that your organization can prove that it is to prove that it is complying with the required computer security procedures.
For example, you need certain authorizations to monitor and retrieve information that is linked with computer intrusion, so you don’t breach the individual’s privacy rights. Likewise, certain legal ramifications must be considered before applying some security monitoring technologies.
Technical Challenges
One of the most overwhelming challenges faced while pursuing any digital forensics career is the technologies and technical skills required in cloud settings. Although some people use technology to further facilitate work and to reduce the energy exerted while carrying out both mental and physical tasks, others use technology for malicious intents.
The challenge with technical advancements is that while forensics investigations are going on to refute or support an evidence needed to prosecute an intruder, another technology is being developed that helps the perpetrator to effectively hide their identities. Some common technical challenges include
◉ Steganography
◉ Varying media formats
◉ Covert channels
◉ Anti-forensics tools
◉ Encryption
◉ Live acquisition and analysis
◉ Residual data wiping
Resource Challenges
There are different resources available for different forensics investigations. This can prove challenging based on the time required to obtain and analyze the forensic data, the volume of the data involved in the case, and the difficulty that comes with gathering accurate and trusted evidence.
Depending on the volume of the data, a forensics investigation might be time-consuming. However, considering that time is a limited resource for a computer forensics analyst, this poses as a challenge during the investigation process.
Likewise, data resources which are not properly preserved or damaged are useless to the computer forensics analyst. So, it is a critical challenge for computer forensics investigators when the digital materials gathered or detected are not useable to them.
How Much do Digital Forensics Make?
Several factors can influence the salary earned by a digital forensic investigator, including geographic location, job description, scope and size of the company you intend to work for, and the challenges mentioned above that you may need to address. Based on the report provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (2018), the average salary you can earn in this field is up to 98,350 USD per annum.
Furthermore, following the survey conducted by Payscale, the median salary of a digital forensic analyst is 72,929 USD per year. Analysts can earn larger amounts when they are contracted by private government agencies. Computer forensics investigators can also earn more salaries with advanced degrees, certifications, security clearance, and work experience.
How to Become a Computer Forensics Investigator
EC-Council is an internationally accepted certification and training company that specializes in the fields of digital forensics, ethical hacking or anti-hacking, and penetration testing. The aim of the CHFI certification program is to confirm the candidate’s competences and capabilities to pinpoint a perpetrator’s footprints and to correctly assemble all the relevant evidence needed to take legal actions against the intruder.
The EC-Council offers training for the CHFI certificate but allows applicants to participate in the examination without having to take the required course. In as much as the candidate provides a minimum of two years of information security experience and pays a non-refundable $100 eligibility application fee. The EC-Council also offers several other certification programs that are valuable for IT professionals in the CHFI.
How would a computer hacking forensic investigator
certification be helpful in a typical workplace? It seems like something out of
an episode of CSI where people require to catch the bad guys through their
computers or phones.
CHFI comprises identifying cyber-attacks, evaluating the
issue to stop future attacks, and finding evidence utilized in reporting the
crime. A CHFI expert is accountable for getting information from flash drives,
remote servers, computers, and other forms of data storage devices. An
investigator works with the concerned business and law enforcement authorities.
Skills Obtained through CHFI Certification
CHFI certification qualifies professionals how to carry out
investigations precisely so that evidence will retain its morality and be
helpful during prosecution of cybercrimes. Professionals will also learn how to
retrieve deleted files and obtain hidden information on Windows, Linux, and Mac
operating systems.
Another feature of a forensic investigation is the recovery
of lost information, which can occur due to sabotage or equipment failure.
Forensic investigators should also be able to analyze the information they find
to understand the impact of a hack and the degree of a data breach.
In some cases, the cybercrime intricate isn’t a data breach
but requires possession of illegal materials like pornography. CHFI skills can
be used to detect the possession of pornography and collect evidence for
prosecution. CHFI certification can be valuable in many different jobs to
improve your skillset so you can meet your employer’s continually developing
needs. Here are some ways you might use a CHFI certification in your IT job.
1. To find out whether your network was breached.
IT security professionals and systems administrators can
practice the skills acquired from a CHFI certification to help determine
network breaches, should they occur. In many cases, they can also work toward
concluding who was behind the breach and help law enforcement distinguish them
so they can be prosecuted.
Instead of your organization having no idea its security was
breached or that client data was compromised, CHFI-certified professionals will
have the skills to detect a breach, or expectantly, to avoid or stop it before
any information is imperiled.
2. To expand law enforcement training.
For police and other law enforcement officers, CHFIcertification can help them to investigate cybercrime and arrest
cybercriminals. Cybercrime is on the peak, and law enforcement training has
lagged because it is relatively new and continually evolving.
CHFI certification could help you get reinforced to the
detective or other supervisory jobs where greater expertise about cybercrime
and data breaches is essential.
3. To constitute a criminal or civil case against
hackers, or defend accused cybercriminals.
The CHFI certification may be beneficial for lawyers, both
prosecutors and defense lawyers, who may come across ever more frequent cases
concerning cybersecurity and data breaches. A thorough understanding of hacking
and computer forensics may be needed to correctly prosecute or defend these
cases.
4. To assure that disloyal employees don’t steal information
or resources, or to gather evidence that they did so to prosecute them.
Disloyal employees could use their access to company servers
and networks to theft corporate secrets or give other people access to
corporate data and networks. Earning a CHFI certification can assure that your
organization remains safe, or that unfaithful employees who have already
destroyed company data can be brought to justice.
5. To be sure dismissed employees don’t interrupt the network
or any part of the server.
After employees are suspended, they may want to hit back at
the company by stealing data, information, or money from the organization. They
may also attempt to ruin data or systems. CHFI certification can stop these
attacks or allow the collection of evidence to sue them after the fact.
Career Prospects for a Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator
There is a huge demand for CHFI-certified professionals
across industries. CHFI-certified individuals are being hired not only by IT
and IT security organizations but also by the defense and military sectors,
legal practices, law enforcement agencies, banking, and insurance companies.
The CHFI certification certifies an applicant’s skills to
gather the required evidence of theft to prosecute in a court of law. Starting
salaries in the computer forensics field can go as high as $85,000 to $120,000.
According to Payscale.com, on an average, a Computer Hacking Forensic
Investigator (CHFI) receives around $86,000 annually in the U.S.
Certified CHFI professionals can pursue the following roles:
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