Security Basics mailing list archives
RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use
From: "Brunner, Mark" <MBrunner () tor fasken com>
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:30:07 -0400
Well Edmund, I'm not a lawyer and do not intend to offer legal advice... If you have installed Websense, SurfControl or some other content management system, you could refer to it for IP and Active Directory login based web tracking. If you don't have logging in place, you could setup a sniffer to log his/her actions. Of course, you may need a fairly substantial hard disk on the sniffer because you don't know when you need to capture. Keystroke logger is another option. Some will do "screen scraping" to show proof of what was being done at various points in the day. As for analyzing the computer, you could use a pristine hard disk to duplicate the users' disk, then perform a deleted file analysis. This sort of investigation can be as simple or complex as you need to make it. If you _may_ press charges as a result of this investigation, you're best off getting a forensics evidence consultant to come in and do the deed, maintaining chain of evidence and unbiased analysis. If you are investigating potential policy breach to justify monitoring this particular user (prove that policy was breached in the past), just undelete everything and see what is there. If you are just being nosey, beware the users' assumption of privacy. Make sure that whatever you do is within the scope of your WRITTEN and ACKNOWLEDGED policies. Don't have a personal use and an acceptable usage policy in place and signed by the user? FORMAT C: ENTER. Cheers! Mark -----Original Message----- From: Edmond Chow [mailto:echow () gettechnologies com] Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 7:23 PM To: security-basics () securityfocus com Cc: Edmond Chow Subject: RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Dear List, I'm working on the following project and would appreciate your views: I have been tasked with finding out if a certain desktop computer was used to view pornographic sites on the internet. This user has gone to great lengths to try to mask his illegal activities by erasing cookies, temp. files and by installing anti-spyware software on his computer. Are there any tools that would allow me to still uncover proof that he had accessed these sites? So far, the tech department is telling me that he did access illegal sites on only two dates but I suspect that this illegal activity started many months or years ago and it will be up to me to find more proof. Also, at a network level, we know his IP address but yet my technical support department is telling me that they cannot (either because they don't want to or because they are not technically capable of) tell me what internet sites this IP address has accessed in the past. Logically, there must be a point in the network (on some piece of hardware) where I can consult log files to track his activities? Or, is there a log file that I can consult that will tell me what sites all my users have accessed and from what IP address? In terms of access to the desktop in question, I will have full access as the computer will be in my possession in the coming days. Thank-you and any help that you can provide would be most appreciated. Regards, Edmond
Current thread:
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use McHenry, Glenn CTO1 (Aug 30)
- Re: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Greg Stiavetti (Aug 30)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Mike Sweeney (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use James McEachern (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Beauford, Jason (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Edmond Chow (Aug 30)
- Re: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Jason Coombs (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use CJI Support (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Bob Radvanovsky (Aug 31)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use CJI Support (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Brunner, Mark (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Beauford, Jason (Aug 30)
- Re: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Dave Aronson (SecBasics) (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Craig, Tobin (OIG) (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Steve.Cummings (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Sadler, Connie (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use dave kleiman (Aug 31)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Robinson, Sonja (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Robinson, Sonja (Aug 30)
- RE: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Robinson, Sonja (Aug 30)
- Re: Computer forensics to uncover illegal internet use Jason Coombs (Aug 30)
(Thread continues...)