Ankur Chandrakant, a recognised Cyber Security and Forensic Expert with a deep understanding of Blockchain, NFT, Crypto, and Metaverse, explains the challenges and use of Cyber Forensics and electronic evidence. Ankur talked about the use of cyber forensics in various aspects of the law. They were used in criminal prosecution, insurance cases, corporations, revenue regulations and counsels. The first is criminal prosecution. Electronic evidence can be used in a range of offences if damning evidence is present. Criminal prosecution can include homicide, financial fraud, narcotics and embezzlement, harassment, record keeping, and child pornography, to name a few examples.
Electronic evidence can be used in civil prosecutions to reveal company and personal data. Contracts, divorces, claims, harassment, and defamation lawsuits are just a few instances. Second, cyber forensics is used in insurance cases. In accident and arson cases, insurance firms may be able to effectively defend themselves against any claim by providing electronic records of probable fraud. The third is Corporations – They use these evidences to see whether there are any connections between blackmail, fraud, trade secrets, misappropriation, and other internal and external information. Revenue/Enforcement/Regulation, these terms are frequently used in the aftermath of a computer asset seizure. Finally, it is counseled. In certain circumstances, they may keep experienced cyber forensics to handle and establish sophisticated electronic records.
Ankur discussed electronic evidence and its considerations, care and caution. “Understanding electronic evidence is critical. Electronic evidence, unlike any other type of evidence, is very simple to teach, even for an expert who works with it daily. As a result, treating such sensitive pieces of evidence requires extra caution and attention. Viruses, electromagnetic or mechanical harm are the most common risks to electronic evidence.” Such instruments and approaches must be used that have been tried and proven, and my specialists have proved that they are exact enough to get to the thin roots of subtleties in complicated data. To avoid any form of error during the collection/examination of evidence, the tools should be subjected to mock examination as much as workable before usage. Experts should study sensitive information as much as workable, and amateurs should not be permitted to tamper with the data. These are some fundamentals that, if adhered to religiously, can cause an astounding shift in the prosecution’s victorious conclusion.
“As a subject, cyber forensics causes highly skilled professionals working in an organised and complete manner. The rise in cybercrime causes the formation of a support group comprising officers from the CBI, CID, state police headquarters, and the detective department of computer investigation. These trained police officers are necessary to comprehend the nature of the crime at the border and investigate in the proper and required method. If this does not happen, the investigation will be bungled from the start, leaving no proof, and the culprit will be acquitted.”
When performing a cyber forensics investigation, extra precautions should be taken. It’s important to remember that merely gathering proof isn’t necessary. The agency determines whether the evidence gained is acceptable in a court of law. They are required to establish safeguards to ensure that those pieces of evidence are not tampered with or fooled with for the sake of admissibility. Evidence must pass a rigorous admissibility standard. As a result, they must provide a clear picture of the circumstances that led to one and only one conclusion: the accused is guilty.
The cleverness of the offenders is another perplexing facet of these acts. These crimes are committed by highly competent individuals who have received particular training in these professions. As a result, their comprehension of events is significantly more than what investigators can detect. A hyper-technical and acute approach is required to match the knowledge and expertise of criminals.
“Because novel forms and techniques of data storage are always being altered and new technologies are being invented, cyber forensics has become more difficult. The legal framework is one of the key issues that investigators and law courts encounter. Electronic records are acceptable evidence in India with introducing the Information and Technology Act, 2000, and subsequent revisions to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The main issue, however, is a question of jurisdiction. The difficulty of enforcement occurs when the laws of one nation recognise an act as a crime, but the laws of another country do not. Not to mention the importance of the other country’s collaboration and help.”
“An electronic record’s evidential value is directly proportionate to its quality. The Indian Evidence Act of 1872 has addressed the evidential value of electronic recordings extensively. Section 3 of the Act defines “evidence” as “any papers, including electronic records, produced for the court’s scrutiny,” and such materials are referred to as documentary evidence. As a result, the provision establishes that documentary evidence can take the form of an electronic record and is just as valid as traditional papers.”
“The fundamental ideas of equivalence and legal validity of both electronic and handwritten signatures, as well as the equivalent of paper and electronic documents, have achieved widespread recognition. Despite technical precautions, electronic records are still vulnerable to manipulation, and complicated scientific approaches are being developed to estimate the likelihood of such tampering. Specific standards have been established in the Indian Evidence Act for the admission of electronic records in order to fulfil the primary criterion of authenticity or dependability, which may be enhanced by new security mechanisms brought by emerging technology.”
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