It was a nice month, with some casework, some work for the Forensic IT working group of ENFSI www.enfsi.org and developing new tools that are also used in casework such as http://prnucompare.sourceforge.net/, which were developed by our team. It includes now also wavelet methods published by Fridrich et. al. and batch processing, since these methods can be time consuming in calculation time.
It is good to see that work in literature is implemented in easy to use open source software, such that published methods in literature are available in the open source community, and it becomes easier to validate the different software approaches. We also have a database with some examples on line at http://forensic.to/prnu . Of course validation of the uniqueness of PRNU patterns with different cameras is always needed before reporting and drawing conclusions based on the results.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sunday, April 05, 2009
April 2009
In this time, after my vacation, we finally do not have much backlog, so more time to review articles, and preparing presentations and of course to make new projects.
I also went to an interesting conference in the Netherlands, about problems in forensic expertise in Amsterdam, organized by the court of Amsterdam, where also lawyers could attend. This conference also went in depth in to different aspects of forensic science, eyewitness testimonies, forensic psychiatry and how the court interprets the findings. There was also some discussion about the NAS-report , and also having a forensic entitity as meant in this report in the Netherlands. One of the examples that was given, was the Phantom of Heilbron , where 40 cases in Western Europe where linked based on DNA for no apparent reason also with a murder case. It finally appeared to be a contamination case, since the cotton swabs where contaminated by the producer of these swabs with DNA of one of the employees. It is good that this came out, since now other labs are also aware of this kind of contamination, and can look at there quality assurance system to prevent this.
Also the issue that forensic scientists can be biased based on the information they will receive around a case, and that this might influence there conclusion. Ton Broeders presented a method to prevent this, by doing blind examination in comparison cases.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
March 2009
This month did not go as smoothly as usual. There were numerous positive aspects, such as publications that got accepted, some nice development in research, backlogs that disappeared in casework, nice European projects and such. Also the credit crisis might influence the money to spend in forensic science, however it is not clear yet. Last week I had a worst week. Since my asthma got worse, I went to the lung doctor. There I received a new medicine with the nice name "Foster" and a fancy purple packing, which is new on the market. Since I had issues with lung medicine before, I asked if it could influence my heart, however the amount was for children oto begin with. So, I took the inhaler when I traveled from the hospital by train to Den Haag. When I was sitting in the train I felt a severe pain on the chest. At that time, I was near the University hospital of Leiden. I went out of the train, and walked to the emergency room of this hospital.
Then it appeared that the ECG was not as usual, and they told me it was wise to do a catheterisation where they could check on coronary spasms. With this procedure, they will inject a fluid and look if a coronary spasm occurs during the catheterisation. After two days at the coronary care, where I had to lay on bed with the cables, they did a catheterisation. Then I had these spasms during the procedure when they injected this fluid. Since I used some other medicines during the test (nitroglycerin and a calcium blocker), the effect was reduced, however I had the same reaction as with the medicine I used when I had the pain on the chest. So possibly I had some coronary spasms due to the medicine I used that morning. I remembered that I also had the same with similar lung medicines, so it appears I was sensitive to this (and this reaction does not often happen). Further all vessels where clean, so that is nice to hear. The angioseal they used for sealing the vessel came out, so I had to stay several hours longer, however it was nice that I could walk again at the end of that day, of course with some bruises. Also the cause was known, so that makes a difference.
Next morning I had a course, so I could even be there, and I enjoyed it even more then usual, since being in a hospital (although the care was excellent), is not the nicest thing to do. Then a week vacation in Turkey, and looking forward to start working again.
Then it appeared that the ECG was not as usual, and they told me it was wise to do a catheterisation where they could check on coronary spasms. With this procedure, they will inject a fluid and look if a coronary spasm occurs during the catheterisation. After two days at the coronary care, where I had to lay on bed with the cables, they did a catheterisation. Then I had these spasms during the procedure when they injected this fluid. Since I used some other medicines during the test (nitroglycerin and a calcium blocker), the effect was reduced, however I had the same reaction as with the medicine I used when I had the pain on the chest. So possibly I had some coronary spasms due to the medicine I used that morning. I remembered that I also had the same with similar lung medicines, so it appears I was sensitive to this (and this reaction does not often happen). Further all vessels where clean, so that is nice to hear. The angioseal they used for sealing the vessel came out, so I had to stay several hours longer, however it was nice that I could walk again at the end of that day, of course with some bruises. Also the cause was known, so that makes a difference.
Next morning I had a course, so I could even be there, and I enjoyed it even more then usual, since being in a hospital (although the care was excellent), is not the nicest thing to do. Then a week vacation in Turkey, and looking forward to start working again.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
February 2009 (2)
The http://www.aafs.org/ meeting in Denver was excellent, and our new section Digital and Multimedia sciences has started the first year. I am happy that the members re-elected me as chairperson for another year, so we can build further on the new section. Also the workshop was visited well, and there were many good papers. During the meeting, also the NAS-report was published http://www.nas.edu/morenews/20090218.html that the forensic science field is fragmented, and there is need to have more scientific research established in this field, as well as coordination. So, it would be excellent if good actions are made to improve these findings, since many of them are also true in the rest of the world.
It would be nice if this would result in a more research and also more statistics on methods used in forensic science. Of course, many forensic scientists are aware of the issues, however the question is if the court is aware of the limitations that can exist in a forensic report or testimony. There are several efforts made to have a more scientific way of reporting, for example with Bayesian rules and likelihood ratios. The difficult part in these is that the reporting gets more complicated, and the question is if the reader of the reports understands these conclusions. However in these cases it is important to mention that often a subjective scale is used. See for example http://www.intermin.fi/intermin/images.nsf/files/6C8438A4F3468012C2256D0A00284C02/$file/IBSTE2002_Vol8_3.pdf .
Furthermore we just published our new PRNU comparison for www.fidis.net on https://sourceforge.net/projects/prnucompare/ for camera comparison and the enf collector for collecting variations in the electricity signal https://sourceforge.net/projects/nfienfcollector/.
It would be nice if this would result in a more research and also more statistics on methods used in forensic science. Of course, many forensic scientists are aware of the issues, however the question is if the court is aware of the limitations that can exist in a forensic report or testimony. There are several efforts made to have a more scientific way of reporting, for example with Bayesian rules and likelihood ratios. The difficult part in these is that the reporting gets more complicated, and the question is if the reader of the reports understands these conclusions. However in these cases it is important to mention that often a subjective scale is used. See for example http://www.intermin.fi/intermin/images.nsf/files/6C8438A4F3468012C2256D0A00284C02/$file/IBSTE2002_Vol8_3.pdf .
Furthermore we just published our new PRNU comparison for www.fidis.net on https://sourceforge.net/projects/prnucompare/ for camera comparison and the enf collector for collecting variations in the electricity signal https://sourceforge.net/projects/nfienfcollector/.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
February 2009
The last post was by Holly, and she wrote on concerns on the distribution of knowledge and people committing crime with this knowledge. The issue is also true the other way around, since we have to exchange knowledge, and have our methods peer reviewed in journals, so use them in court. In many countries legislation exist to shield the information such that it is not used for committing crime, and still the evidence can be used in court. It is also the reason that often events are organized for law enforcement only in this field.
Within FIDIS www.fidis.net where I am involved in the package on forensic science, another issue is mainting privacy, since people seem to store lots of information on the internet without realizing that other people can also use it in the future, and one should be aware that even if information is erased, it is often available on backups, so it is also something to be aware of. As we see with the latest developments on the mobile phone (for example latitude of google), also the location of where you are, is visible on the net. With these systems you give permission, and even I tend to use these features, since it can be a nice gadget.
I am looking forward to the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science in Denver. I organized a workshop, and we have the first year of our new group in Digital Evidence and Multimedia, where I am currently chairperson of. I will also give a paper on camera identification and ENF.
In August we also organize a workshop the Third International Workshop on Computational Forensics at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands [August 13-14, 2009]. Currently there is a call for papers, so we are looking forward to this. It is in conjuction with IAPR and there should be paper proceedings ready by Springer in August.
Within FIDIS www.fidis.net where I am involved in the package on forensic science, another issue is mainting privacy, since people seem to store lots of information on the internet without realizing that other people can also use it in the future, and one should be aware that even if information is erased, it is often available on backups, so it is also something to be aware of. As we see with the latest developments on the mobile phone (for example latitude of google), also the location of where you are, is visible on the net. With these systems you give permission, and even I tend to use these features, since it can be a nice gadget.
I am looking forward to the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science in Denver. I organized a workshop, and we have the first year of our new group in Digital Evidence and Multimedia, where I am currently chairperson of. I will also give a paper on camera identification and ENF.
In August we also organize a workshop the Third International Workshop on Computational Forensics at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands [August 13-14, 2009]. Currently there is a call for papers, so we are looking forward to this. It is in conjuction with IAPR and there should be paper proceedings ready by Springer in August.
To Catch a Thief…
There’s an old adage that says that it takes a thief to catch a thief, a saying that leads us to believe that every cop, detective or any other person in law enforcement who’s any good at their job must have a mind that has a little bit of a criminal bent. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true – every criminal who does not want to be caught, ultimately masters the art of covering his tracks and staying just out of reach of the long arm of the law.
Computer forensics is a not just a science, but an art as well – for those who have the innate skills to handle the tasks that go with this field, no technology is too complicated and no thief too difficult to catch. The real problems begin when the criminals begin to use forensics too, not to catch others of their kind, but to sweep away evidence of their crimes and leave nothing behind for the investigators who are sure to follow their tracks.
The age of the computer and the rapid advances we are making in the field of technology is something that would never have been thought possible a few decades ago. It’s this advancement that has made criminals out of some of us – the lure of easy money and the possibility of an almost certain escape is too good an opportunity to pass up for those who don’t have too many ethics or moral values; and this is why we have people breaking into networks and security systems to access credit card and other personal and sensitive information.
Today, while it’s true that the good guys have an arsenal of forensic tools at their disposal to help catch the bad guys, it’s also true that the bad guys are becoming really good at beating the good guys at their own game. They’re going back to school too, so that they can learn the tools of the computer forensic trade in the legitimate way, and then use these methods to prevent and avoid detection.
There are criminals who perpetrate crime when the opportunity presents itself; and there are those who religiously plan and execute their crimes. For the latter kind, nothing is too hard or too difficult. They’re often master strategists who are adept at hiding their tracks and moving from one operation to the other to avoid being caught. And this makes computer forensics a more challenging field – how do we prevent the knowledge that’s available from being misused?
Besides the legitimate forensic tools, there are those that straddle the thin line between legal and illegal; and when these are used in conjunction with those that are allowed to be used, they form the most lethal combination because they trick users into believing that the whole operation is legit.
If education is knowledge and knowledge is power, then we must ensure that this power does not fall into the wrong hands. For when it does, there’s nothing we can expect but disaster on a large scale.
By-line:
This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of forensic science careers. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com
Computer forensics is a not just a science, but an art as well – for those who have the innate skills to handle the tasks that go with this field, no technology is too complicated and no thief too difficult to catch. The real problems begin when the criminals begin to use forensics too, not to catch others of their kind, but to sweep away evidence of their crimes and leave nothing behind for the investigators who are sure to follow their tracks.
The age of the computer and the rapid advances we are making in the field of technology is something that would never have been thought possible a few decades ago. It’s this advancement that has made criminals out of some of us – the lure of easy money and the possibility of an almost certain escape is too good an opportunity to pass up for those who don’t have too many ethics or moral values; and this is why we have people breaking into networks and security systems to access credit card and other personal and sensitive information.
Today, while it’s true that the good guys have an arsenal of forensic tools at their disposal to help catch the bad guys, it’s also true that the bad guys are becoming really good at beating the good guys at their own game. They’re going back to school too, so that they can learn the tools of the computer forensic trade in the legitimate way, and then use these methods to prevent and avoid detection.
There are criminals who perpetrate crime when the opportunity presents itself; and there are those who religiously plan and execute their crimes. For the latter kind, nothing is too hard or too difficult. They’re often master strategists who are adept at hiding their tracks and moving from one operation to the other to avoid being caught. And this makes computer forensics a more challenging field – how do we prevent the knowledge that’s available from being misused?
Besides the legitimate forensic tools, there are those that straddle the thin line between legal and illegal; and when these are used in conjunction with those that are allowed to be used, they form the most lethal combination because they trick users into believing that the whole operation is legit.
If education is knowledge and knowledge is power, then we must ensure that this power does not fall into the wrong hands. For when it does, there’s nothing we can expect but disaster on a large scale.
By-line:
This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of forensic science careers. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com
Saturday, January 24, 2009
January 2009
January started good. The European network of Forensic Institutes was having a meeting on their Research and Development in Birmingham. When visiting Birmingham, it appeared that the prices where much lower than in the past, also caused by the exchange rate of the pound. It was nice to see that prices are reasonable again in England. I also had this experience when ordering some electronics in England with Ebay.
Within Europe we see that forensic science is developing in a market. In England and Wales, forensic science is more a market, and there is even a regulator. Also in the Netherlands a market is developing in forensic science, and this is progressing with different companies being active on the Dutch market. Of course, it has some challenges in quality assurance, however it is good to have more choice also when coping with backlogs, as long as the quality is also guaranteed of course.
This month I had to finish some publications and reviews. So as always busy, also with some work for the European Commission as an evaluator. Also doing some casework, and giving some presentations, as well as working on projects.
Within Europe we see that forensic science is developing in a market. In England and Wales, forensic science is more a market, and there is even a regulator. Also in the Netherlands a market is developing in forensic science, and this is progressing with different companies being active on the Dutch market. Of course, it has some challenges in quality assurance, however it is good to have more choice also when coping with backlogs, as long as the quality is also guaranteed of course.
This month I had to finish some publications and reviews. So as always busy, also with some work for the European Commission as an evaluator. Also doing some casework, and giving some presentations, as well as working on projects.
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