ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the potential value of this discipline to the non-specialist, and as a guide to fraud investigators and lawyers who may be charged with the overall control and management of an electronic crime scene. The overwhelming majority of frauds, and many other crimes beside, are committed or abetted through computer technology. The bedrock of any successful computer forensic investigation or data analysis exercise is that it must comply with the jurisdictional law in which a prosecution or legal action is envisaged. The electronic scene of crime, particularly when encountered in a business environment, is becoming increasingly complex, difficult and time-consuming to process. Backup tapes are often deposited in secure storage with third-party archivist companies. The dossier claimed to be from intelligence sources, but was quickly ridiculed as the 'dodgy dossier'. E-disclosure is usually facilitated by a hosted platform upon which the data is preprocessed so that it may be examined and analysed quickly and conveniently by non-technicians.
