From: William Knowles (wkC4I.ORG)
Date: Sat Feb 19 2000 - 01:24:54 CST

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/000217-000003.html

Posted 17/02/2000 10:53am by Thomas C. Greene in Washington

The FBI is working hard to establish itself as the world's premier
computer forensics expert.

The Bureau has deployed 193 Special Agents devoted specifically to
cyber crime, along with more than 100 related support personnel at FBI
Headquarters in Washington, and 142 "parts examiners" busily
recovering data from seized computers in the field, FBI Director Louis
Freeh told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Wednesday.

"These are people who can take evidence off a hard drive that even
fairly sophisticated users would think had been erased," Freeh
explained.

Most computers sold in 1998 featured hard drives of six to eight GB
capacity. But by the end of this year, sixty to eighty GB hard drives
will be common, he noted -- and with considerable exaggeration, we
observe. To tell the truth, twenty to forty GB hard drives will be
"common" towards the end of this year. Sixty to eighty... well, that
will remain in the realm of "dream boxes" for some time to come.

In any event, the continuing development of big HDDs "vastly increases
the area that needs to be searched", he complained.

Yet there is hope on the horizon. The FBI has developed a program it
calls the Automated Computer Examination System (ACES), which allows
investigators to examine huge areas of magnetic media quickly, Freeh
revealed.

This, combined with the FBI's Computer Wizards' ambition to
"de-centralise computer examination," should eventually yield an
efficient mechanism for lifting data from confiscated boxes, he
reckons.

One putatively successful effort along these lines is a collaboration
between the FBI and the San Diego Regional Computer Forensics
Laboratory.

This de-centralised approach is supposed to increase the Bureau's
efficiency in forensic investigation. New centres are planned for New
England and Texas, and ought to be running soon, Freeh said.

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