Digital Evidence Mission

Our primary goal is to enhance public safety by assisting the criminal justice system. We do so by:

• Conducting basic and applied research on digital evidence
• Conducting university courses on digital evidence and digital forensics
• Conducting training in digital forensics for local and state law enforcement agencies.

Our Digital Evidence staff consists of professors from Engineering Technology, law enforcement officers, and undergraduate and graduate students. Our ultimate goal is to assist state and local law enforcement with the computer crime challenges they face.

What is Digital Evidence?

“Digital evidence is information of probative value that is stored or transmitted in a binary form”, (SWGDE, 1998). This field includes not only computers in the traditional sense but also includes digital audio and video. It includes all facets of crime where evidence may be found in a digital or binary form. Perhaps the most common computer crime in the news is child pornography, but computers are also instrumental in crimes ranging from check fraud to conspiracy to commit murder.

Digital Evidence comes in numerous form factors, such as:

While these are obvious form factors, there are numerous form factors that are not so obvious, such as:

What is Digital Forensics?

Digital forensics involves the identification, collection, preservation, examination, and analysis of digital evidence. It is a technical, computer-related field involved in the collection and examination of evidence from computers, including audio, video, and graphical images.