Florida Forensics and Security Legal Website

Securing Wireless Networks

A Very Smooth Treo

Until recently, wireless handheld access to digital networks, the Internet, and email was a distant dream. Then Handspring created a device that looks like a Trekkie's tricorder, was about the size of a pack of Marlboros, and that could accomplish most any task we perform using phones and computer networks.

The Web Mob a/k/a La Cosa Webstra

Agents took control of the Mob's website and posted a warning to those not yet busted - "Contact your local United States Secret Service field office before we contact you!!!"

Tech Wreck

We are inundated with technologies designed to more effectively communicate. Some have caused users to defectively communicate. Misuse yields communications breakdown or even worse - death by PowerPoint®. With 400 Million Copies of Microsoft Office® and millions of PowerPoint® Presentations every day, one commentator, Dave Paradi surveyed and found several annoying elements in the bane of boardroom and courtroom technologies, PowerPoint®. Lest you not be familiar with potential side effects of poorly executed digital slideshow software, be assured watching slides from industrial safety filmstrips is more bearable than the painful boredom from this assassin of effective messaging from Microsoft®.

Secret Messages that are not Secret

There are secret messages in your documents that are not secret. Both major word processing packages, Word and Word Perfect, contain hidden information that unless carefully removed can be a rich source of information to an opponent to whom the document is digitally distributed. Documents contain far more information than can be seen on screen.

Phishing and Spoofing

Phishing is not to be confused with 'fishing.' There is no cast net, no baiting of the hook, and no minnow awaiting a large-mouth bass. But there are plenty of wireless fly rods out there. What do I mean? Specifically, an enterprising nerd or computer wizard of the binary-off generation can send you a disguised email representing a company you know and highly regard. The message may be duplicating a well-known logo in a misleading email suggesting you, the gullible, reply and update their files. They will frequently ask for a Social Security Number, credit card number, username and password, and/or your bank account number. Such data provides a license for identity theft. It goes on all the time. You read stories of months and months of futile effort to rectify credit reports done in by the virtual criminals. Frequently, the bait appears as an online financial intermediary asking for an update of personal information. In reality, takers just feed the 'phisher' valuable key information used to exploit the theft of the vulnerable victims' identities.

Paper-less Office or Less-paper Office?

While away from the office, the document image can be retrieved and reviewed from a remote log-in to the network. The images or data can be stored on a notebook computer or on compact disk. Whether a desktop computer from another office, a notebook computer in court, or on a wireless device on the way to court, once the documents and files are accessible from anywhere, your handtruck and its cargo of banker's boxes may be on its way to the junk heap. In the event of a disaster, copies of the data can be retrieved from storage and restored without missing a beat.

Electronic Fingerprints

Electronic fingerprints remain available for review if you know what to look for. The skeletal remains of files deleted or history of persons and places visited are seemingly hidden in the world behind the computer's display. A plan to recover this information by a team with computer forensic expertise can be a powerful tool for civil and criminal litigants, for law enforcement, and for computer support services.

Securing a Cable Modem Against Computer Criminals

As the use of commercial broadband cable modem's flourishes, the opportunity for computer criminals or hackers to attack computers attached to these networks similarly has skyrocketed. Unbeknownst to most users, a cable modem provides easy access to an attached computer. Protection of these computers is a three-stage process.

Electronic Case Files are the Law of the Land -- Civil Litigators Can Safely Read this Too
Criminal Law Section

Beginning on July 2004, you will be filing electronically in the Clerk's Office for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. This is the future. The train is leaving the station; you can be on it or under it.

Data Recovery: Major Disaster or Minor Loss?

In Technospeak, Geekspeak, or Newspeak, the message is the same: If mission critical data is lost, then call in a pro. Finagling with missing or damaged files can render them irrecoverable.

I, Spybot