The employee, 43-year-old Terry Childs, was arrested Sunday. He gave some passwords to police, which did not work, and refused to reveal the real code, the paper reported.

The new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network) handles city payroll files, jail bookings, law enforcement documents and official e-mail for San Francisco. The network is functioning but administrators have little or no access.

Childs, who remains in custody, is accused of improperly tampering with computer systems and causing a denial of service, said Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, on Monday afternoon.

"The bail has been set at $5 million, and the exposure in this case if he were convicted on all counts would be seven years in prison," Harris said.

Harris said it's unknown why Childs tampered with the system. The Chronicle, however, reported that Childs was disciplined recently for poor performance. Childs worked in the Department of Technology for San Francisco, making close to US$150,000 a year, the paper reported.

City officials told the paper that Childs may have caused millions in damage while also rigging the network so that other third parties could monitor traffic, posing a huge data security risk. He is also alleged to have installed a tracing system to monitor communications related to his personnel case.

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Twenty other people have been summoned to appear in court. All 90 -- including a police officer and several teachers -- face charges of accessing images of children being abused on the Internet, police said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said the Interpol-led investigation was conducted simultaneously by law enforcement authorities in 170 countries. Further arrests are expected, he said.

It was one of the largest child pornography investigations in Australian history, police said.

The investigation was triggered after a hacker posted 99 child porn images on a European Web site, which attracted 12 million hits in just 76 hours, including 2,800 from Australian computers, police said.

Federal police assistant commissioner Andrew Colvin said 1,500 people or computers in Australia had been identified so far through their Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses.

Thousands of DVDs of child pornography and dozens of computers have been seized in the investigation, he said.

The children in the images range from babies to those 18 years of age. Some images show rapes and other abuses, Keelty said.

"These are not children in passive positions. These are children who are being abused," he told reporters. "The real tragedy of this is that we don't know the origins of a lot of these children. We don't know whether these children are still being the victims of child abuse."

Police said four children who are dependents of alleged offenders were removed from their homes for their safety, but could not confirm whether they appeared in any of the seized images.

Possession of child pornography carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

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Jeff Pelo, 43, was found guilty on 35 counts, including 25 of aggravated sexual assault. Two other charges were dropped during the trial.

Pelo, who spent much of the trial looking at the table in front of him and taking notes, shook his head and sobbed as the verdict was read. His wife, Rickilee, yelled and ran from the court with the couple's three teenage children.

She later apologized for her outburst but insisted to reporters that "they've got the wrong man."

"I feel badly for the victims," she added. "I stand behind my husband. I know my husband is not guilty."

The rapes took place from 2002 to 2005. Pelo has been jailed since his June 2006 arrest, unable to post $100,000 to cover $1 million bail.

Prosecutor Mark Messman noted that the jurors reached their decision despite a lack of DNA or similar forensic evidence linking Pelo directly to the rapes.

"There was no smoking gun; (but) there were several very strong pieces of evidence," he said.

Three of the women picked Pelo out of a photo lineup. Messman also laid out evidence that Pelo's police computer login had been used to access background information about the rape victims before they were attacked.

Defense attorney Michael Rosenblat said he likely would appeal. He plans to argue that the judge shouldn't have let jurors see pornography found on Pelo's home computer, and should have let the defense call an expert witness to testify about the reliability of eyewitness identifications.

"I believed before opening statements and I believe today that Jeff is not guilty," Rosenblat said.

Pelo was arrested when another Bloomington officer spotted him outside a woman's home after she called to report a prowler. Pelo said he was merely in the neighborhood shopping for a home to buy his mother-in-law.

Messman portrayed Pelo as a man driven on the one hand by violent fantasies, and on the other by a desire to be his victims' boyfriend. At least one of the women described her attacker as gentle and polite.

But another testified that between what were multiple rapes over two hours, she told her attacker she was pregnant. After seeing an engagement ring on her finger and asking how her fiance and parents would feel knowing she'd been raped while pregnant, she said the attacker was elated.

"He was like a kid at Christmas," she said while crying.

Investigators found numerous images of violent pornography -- some depicting forced sex at gunpoint -- on Pelo's home computer.

Rosenblat said whatever taste Pelo might have for pornography was irrelevant.

The defense attorney seized on discrepancies offered by the victims, particularly one woman's description of an attacker as young as his early 20s.

"The descriptions of these attacks vary widely," the attorney told jurors. "They differ because different people committed these attacks."

The most serious charges against Pelo carry sentences of up to 45 years in prison, and prosecutors have said Pelo could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Sentencing is set for August 12.

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"Anyone who would run the risk of destroying this wonderful life, anybody that would chase a teenager — I mean, a young girl — where is his judgment?" she said.

The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and architect Peter Cook are arguing over custody of their two children and other issues in a divorce trial that has produced a series of salacious revelations. Brinkley's trip to the witness stand Monday was not as explosive as some of last week's testimony, but it did contain some juicy details.

Brinkley portrayed Cook as inflexible about the children, saying he once refused to change his visitation schedule to let their son, now 13, attend a Billy Joel concert last year at the boy's private East Hampton school. Joel and Brinkley were married in the 1980s and had a daughter together.

But before Cook's affair burst into the tabloids and sank their marriage, Brinkley described him to an interviewer as "just the greatest father."

Cook's lawyer, Norman Sheresky, asked whether she'd meant it.

"Partially," Brinkley said, explaining that her admiration waned in the latter years of their marriage.

Brinkley emphasized her own hands-on parenting in her testimony Monday. She had a range of household helpers, at times including a nanny, a cook, a groundskeeper and a laundress (because Cook insisted on having his underwear ironed, she said). But Brinkley said she "put in a very full, busy day in an active, wonderful life."

Her lawyers even introduced some physical evidence: an elaborate dinosaur diorama — complete with a volcano and flying raptors — she said she had helped her son make for a science class.

Last week, Brinkley testified that her world "was completely shattered" by news of the affair. "My life as I knew it had vanished," she said.

She told the court Monday that after finding out her husband had had an affair with the 18-year-old woman, the model put on a brave face and threw a birthday party with 30 kids.

"That's the most important thing — to have a big, happy family," she said.

The court heard testimony last week from Cook, 49, and his former mistress, Diana Bianchi. Cook said he gave Bianchi a $300,000 payoff, had trysts with her in his office and Brinkley's Hamptons homes and spent thousands of dollars on online pornography.

Brinkley said Monday she tried to spare her two young children the messy details of the breakup, including her discovery of Cook's Internet porn habits. She told the children: "I think Daddy has fallen out of love with me," while assuring them they would always be loved.

As the scandal became public, she took the children on a private plane for a vacation in Colorado.

"I took them to the top of a mountain, and we camped out under the stars," without TV or Internet access, she said.

While they were away, she said, "Ms. Bianchi spilled the beans. She went on TV to get her 15 minutes of fame."

Under questioning from her lawyer, Brinkley said she had remained faithful to Cook. And, though she's divorcing, she's not interested in dating.

"I think the kids have been through a lot of changes," she said. "I just don't think this is the time for that."

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For Harris, a 44-year-old dentist, the naked truth may have been too much to bear: The day before her July 24 rampage she had hired a private investigator to uncover her husband's infidelity. She found him at the hotel with Gail Bridges, a secretary who had once worked at his orthodontic clinic.

The vigilant private investigator, who was situated in the parking lot with a video camera, filmed the fatal rampage.

"Our investigator had the camera focused on the subject until the very end," said Bobbi Bacha, who runs Blue Moon Private Investigators.

Catching a killing on film isn't de rigueur for a private investigator, but as PIs themselves are the first to admit the practice of vetting adultery allegations often results in violence.

"It's a tricky situation and there are a lot of emotions involved," said Bobby Newman of the Texas firm ACTA Investigatons, Inc.

There are no national statistics kept on crimes of passion in which investigators played a role, but most seasoned investigators have anecdotes and newspaper clippings at the ready when asked whether they, too, were involved in cases that went wrong.

In 30 years in the business, Newman says he has seen a number of adultery investigations turn dangerous. Previously, he was retained by Arlene Rogan to trail her husband, whom she suspected of having an affair. He was. Distraught over Newman's reports, the wealthy socialite ultimately killed her husband and then committed suicide aboard their yacht. More recently, Newman trailed the husband of Lynn Ryan Kilroy, who was convicted this year of soliciting his murder.

For many firms, trailing potential adulterers is a necessary evil. The PI business bills by the hour, and adultery can be a cash cow compared to duties such as serving subpoenas or other court orders (Newman was retained by David Harris' daughter to serve a motion to freeze the couple's assets last week) and conducting interviews with witnesses, says Newman.

"I laugh when I hear about these firms saying they don't take divorce [cases]," said the PI. "It's just more business for me."
Why spy?

Business keeps rolling in for PIs only because couples keep cheating, says Ken Raggio, a lawyer with the Dallas firm Raggio & Raggio and a former chair of the American Bar Association's family law group. Couples considering divorce often have an incentive to catch philandering spouses with private investigators, says the lawyer, and hard evidence of adultery can open up the coffers.

In Texas and most other states, a so-called "fault" divorce on grounds of cruel treatment, abandonment, adultery and even addiction can give a spouse a chance at more than the normal 50-50 split.

Fault divorces were the norm three decades ago before the introduction of the amicable "no-fault" clause, now on the books in every state except Illinois and South Dakota. Then, private investigators were integral to the oft-staged adultery investigations needed to justify marital splits.

But today, says Raggio, those investigations can mean the difference between getting the house and getting an outdated set of encyclopedias. "You never know what you're going to need," said the lawyer. "You hope everything is going to work out, but sometimes ... if you have bad facts on the other side it persuades people that they don't want to play hardball."

Another motive, says the lawyer, is the "undying quest for the truth."

"If somebody feels that they have been living an ethical life, and they find out their spouse is leading a double life, they get pissed," said Raggio. "And sometimes when you find out the truth, you get angry."

And the truth isn't often pretty. "The majority of times people come to an investigator it's probably true," said David Kale, a California investigator who has worked on more than 15,000 cases since 1965. Emotional reactions happen regularly, says the investigator. "We always talk to the client later because you don't want that to occur," he says. "You don't want somebody to run off with a gun."
Keeping a safe distance

One precaution firms take to make sure clients don't have violent reactions is to keep them away from the scene of the investigation. "It says in our agreement that if our client is on the scene in any fashion that we will pull out of the case and they will lose any refunds," said Bacha.

Harris' rampage clearly illustrates the reasoning behind the rule. The successful dentist may have simply intended to catch her husband in the act. She had hired Blue Moon only the day before, after her husband reportedly confessed the affair and even revealed the location of the illicit trysts.

But soon after Harris arrived at the Hilton, with her husband's 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage in tow, she became enraged. Harris demanded that a hotel employee summon the adulterous couple to the lobby.

When they arrived, a scuffle broke out between the two women, and Bridges lost her blouse. Hotel security guards intervened, and the combatants retreated to the parking lot.

David Harris was heading for his Lincoln Navigator when his wife first hit him with her Mercedes. The blow threw him into the air, and she hit him again before he landed. With her stepdaughter screaming and trying to exit the car, Clara Harris spun around to crush and recrush his body.

Not every cuckolded spouse is liable to snap like Harris, and that's why Kale says his business tries to choose clients who don't appear prone to knee-jerk reactions. Kale's first meeting with a client is generally something of a psychological evaluation.

Whether Harris actually snapped is a matter that will be left to the courts to decide. Out of jail on $30,000 bail, she told reporters after the rampage that it was an accident, and her attorney indicated last week that she plans to plead not guilty. In the interim, her conduct on July 24 was enough to convince one judge to issue an order of protection keeping Harris away from her husband's alleged mistress.

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The investigator testified on behalf of his client in a Virginia Juvenile & Domestic court. The video and eye witness evidence presented in this case established a clear violation of a standing court order by the defendant. The defendant was ordered to pay the investigator's fees, to serve 10 days in jail, and to rectify the violation, to refrain from cohabitation with non family member adult males.

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"Neither one of us had a clue -- he didn't know what being gay meant for him. ... He needed to figure that out," recalls Anna Marie Will, of Sacramento, California. "I needed to figure out what his being gay meant for me, and whether I could incorporate that into my life and my marriage."

What they did know was that they believed in their marriage and wanted to make it work. Jim Will's revelation in 2001 began a three-year process during which they sorted out their feelings for each other. Ultimately, the couple, whose daughter turns 15 in March, decided to stay together.

"He had to learn to talk to me -- he had spent so many years not saying what was really on his mind, and not dealing with his true feelings," says Anna Marie Will, now 39, a worker's compensation program administrator. "We found out once we got past all that, our marriage was so much better. We still loved each other as people and partners."

Although Jim Will, 39, a secretary, had known on some level about his true orientation since he was 5, he didn't want to lose his deep bond with Anna Marie, whom he first befriended when they were in high school.

"When we married, and now still, we feel that we could spend the rest of our lives together," he says. "We want to be together."

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1. "I'm not in love with you anymore."
a
If you hear these words, a big warning bell should go off. This is one of the most consistent things a cheating spouse will say. Your spouse may have a deep, loving bond with you but, intense feelings of passion can override the bond with you and cause your spouse to loose sight of his/her true feelings. The cheating spouse will develop what I call hormone - induced amnesia. The surging hormones and passion they feel in their new relationship can cause some very skewed thinking.

2. "We are just friends."

This is also another very predictable statement that will come from a cheating spouse. If your spouse is spending more and more time with this new “friend” then there is probably more to it than mere friendship. Your spouse may feel they have a lot in common with this person, that this person understands them and things they are going through. Whatever the reasons for the friendship, it’s a big warning sign and one you should take seriously.

3. A sudden need for privacy.

If things the two of you used to share openly suddenly become private pay attention cause something is probably up. He/she may start password protecting computer activity. Cell phone and credit card bills may be hidden. If you ask why or attempt to find out information that used to be common knowledge between the two of you, you will be accused of snooping or trying to control your spouse. Big warning sign!

4. “I need some space to figure my feelings for you.”

Men and women who are involved with someone else will request more space, time alone or away from the family. They may say it is due to confusion over their feelings or stress at work. This can be a sign that there is someone else and the spouse is trying to figure out ways to have more freedom.

5. Regular work habits change.

Working late, going to work at odd hours or, putting in more time than is normal on work related issues can be indications that a spouse is cheating.

6. Spending a large amount of time on the computer.

In today’s world, with modern technology, a person looking for an affair doesn’t even have to leave their home. The ease of internet chat rooms, online dating sites and secret email accounts has caused an alarming increase in emotional affairs.

If your spouse is online more than usual, hanging out in chat rooms and visiting pornographic websites then you have reason to be alarmed.

7. Secretive phone calls and more time spent on the phone.

Emotional affairs occur primarily via the phone, especially cell phones. If you find your spouse hanging up suddenly when you enter the room or erasing the history on the cell phone and becoming defensive when asked about it, then you might want to check your phone records.

8. Behavior that just doesn’t add up.

Not being where he/she was expected to be. Missing time they can’t explain. Money that isn’t accounted for. Receipts for things you don't have. Missing clothing. Clothing that does not belong to your family. Being caught in little lies about the details of the day.

9. Your Own fears and suspicions

If you find yourself looking for excuses for your spouse's behavior or trying to convince yourself that they would never cheat then that is a warning sign. Your intuition is frequently one of the best indicators that something is wrong. If you suspect your spouse might be cheating on you, do some investigating and then talk to him/her about what you've found. Do it in a way that is calm and courteous. Ask for honesty. Be prepared for lies. It is a sad fact that people having affairs become excellent liars. People who never told a lie before in their lives. Trust your gut instinct but get hard, cold proof also. Maybe you want to consider hiring a Private Investigator to collect the proof for you?

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Raymond Gagnon, 40, is charged with having child pornography at his former home in Cullman, Alabama, federal prosecutors said in a statement Monday.

According to the statement, Gagnon also tried to access ex-stepdaughter Brooke Bennett's MySpace account "on or about" June 26 from a library computer in Cullman.

June 26 is the day after Brooke, who was 12, was reported missing in Randolph, Vermont. She was found in a shallow grave a week later. Her uncle, Michael Jacques, has been charged with kidnapping her.

The charges in Alabama were announced as Gagnon was in court on another charge, obstructing justice, in federal court in Burlington, Vermont.

Gagnon, 40, did not contest his continued detention during the hearing in U.S. District Court. He is charged with obstructing justice and will be held in custody until his trial.

Gagnon is accused of having someone throw out his laptop computer a week ago while authorities were searching for Brooke Bennett.

Police say Gagnon lives in Texas but often visits Vermont.

ccording to an affidavit, Gagnon told police he accessed his former stepdaughter's MySpace page from a computer at his San Antonio home after getting login information from the girl's uncle, Jacques.

A 14-year-old girl reported that she last saw Brooke alive walking upstairs with Jacques in his home in Randolph in central Vermont on June 25, according to court papers.

It was the 14-year-old's understanding that Brooke was going to be initiated into a "program for sex" -- the same one the teenager had been involved with since she was 9, the papers said.

Since then, Brooke has turned up dead near Jacques' home, prosecutors have charged Jacques with kidnapping her and Gagnon has sat in.

The affidavit says Gagnon acknowledged that he had downloaded child pornography onto a laptop computer and hard drives he kept in a safe. Gagnon's lawyer did not a return a call Thursday.

Jacques is listed in Vermont's sex offender registry. He was convicted of rape and kidnapping in 1993.

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Stoic to the end, the man who represented himself at trial and refused to testify in his own defense lest he be forced to talk about his clients declined U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer's invitation to have the jurors polled on the verdicts. "No, your honor, thank you," Pellicano said.

Pellicano's elaborate and illegal information-gathering scheme -- which the jury resoundingly deemed a racketeering enterprise -- aided celebrities and business executives, including studio chief Brad Grey and CAA talent agency co-founder Michael Ovitz, and targeted others. Among them: Sylvester Stallone, Garry Shandling and developer Robert Maguire.

Initially, it looked as if the government's six-year investigation would implicate billionaires and Hollywood power brokers and put them on trial with the private detective they had hired. The powerful would fall, some thought -- a cautionary tale for the industry.

But that didn't happen. Pellicano's Hollywood clients were questioned but never charged. The same held true for Bert Fields, the venerable lawyer to the stars, who was Pellicano's frequent employer and mentor. Never heard or seen on the stand, he nonetheless hovered over the trial like a ghost, his name often invoked by witnesses and even Pellicano in his phone recordings.

It's unclear how much time Pellicano will get; one legal expert estimated not more than 10 years based on the complex sentencing guidelines. But whatever the sentence, it will effectively bring to a close the career of the most infamous private eye in Los Angeles -- a man who insinuated himself into the loftiest legal and entertainment circles and even consulted on law enforcement cases until he became one.

Looking preternaturally calm minutes before the jury came back with its verdicts, Pellicano walked into the courtroom and sat down as he grinned and scanned the room. But on the first count, he took off his glasses and looked around expressionlessly. By the 19th guilty verdict, his face red, he shook his head.

The jury also delivered guilty verdicts against all four of Pellicano's co-defendants, a cast of characters who were decidedly un-Hollywood. There was Mark Arneson, the former LAPD police sergeant; Ray Turner, the former telephone company field technician; Kevin Kachikian, computer expert; and Abner Nicherie, a businessman-turned-nursing student who spent a good portion of the trial snoozing, his chin down on his chest.

"This case is not about Hollywood," the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Saunders, told jurors in his closing arguments. "It's not about Sylvester Stallone . . . or Mike Ovitz or Brad Grey. This is a case about corruption, about cheating, about greed and arrogance and the subversion of the justice system. It just happened to take place in Hollywood."

The four co-defendants, who remain free on bail, are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 24. Pellicano, meanwhile, was ordered to remain in federal custody until sentencing.

Jury foreman Terri Winbush, an L.A. Unified employee, said "justice has been served because people's lives, their identities, were violated."

As the prosecutors predicted, Pellicano's own secretly taped phone conversations -- played in court -- were some of the most incriminating evidence against him.

"He did a lot of code talking. . . . We figured it out," said Winbush of the taped phone conversations.

In an odd way, Pellicano's downfall started with a dead fish. It was left on a reporter's car and apparently intended as a cryptic threat and later linked to the private eye. That led to an FBI search of Pellicano's offices in 2002. The agents found explosives, which sent Pellicano to prison in November 2003 for a 30-month term for illegal possession. But the agents also stumbled upon something else during their search: a recording of a wiretapped phone conversation and tapes of phone conversations between Pellicano and his clients. The tapes caught Pellicano talking about wiretapping, prosecutors contended.

"I can't even listen to it all. It's too much," Pellicano told one client, action movie director John McTiernan, in a phone call, played in court. Prosecutors said they were discussing wiretaps on producer Charles Roven. "He'll call his secretary and she places calls for him and she may make 15 . . . calls. I've got to listen to every one of those to determine who he's calling for what."

McTiernan was one of seven people who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the case before Pellicano's trial. That group also included actor Keith Carradine's ex-wife, Sandra.

But for the most part, if Pellicano's wealthy clientele showed up at all, it was to testify under limited-use immunity agreements that protected them from prosecution for what they said. After their turns on the stand, they rushed out of the courtroom trailed by their lawyers, off to work, off to Europe.

So maybe the trial wasn't about Hollywood -- but it was very Hollywood.

The plot lines were as melodramatic as a Lifetime cable movie.

The tapes played in court -- or leaked earlier -- revealed the uncensored, tawdry and vain musings of his sophisticated clientele as they were alternately coddled by Pellicano and harangued for more money.

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First, Kessler International, a company that engages in forensics accounting, computer forensics and corporate investigations, has posted the results of a survey concerning state licensing laws with respect to forensics accounting and computer forensics companies and employees. The results are posted in map form. Click on the state that interests you, and that state's response pops up in pdf format.

Now, with respect specifically to Texas, you may click here [PDF] to find a series of opinions made by the Private Security Bureau with respect to licensing issues and technical tasks associated with computers. Scroll down and look at those opinions from August 21 to October 18.

Some relevant excerpts (keeping in mind that these are the board's opinions, and not judicial rulings):

Computer Forensics August 21, 2007
The computer forensics industry has requested clarification of the Private Security Bureau's position regarding whether the services commonly associated with computer forensics constitute those of an "investigations company" and are therefore services regulated under the Private Security Act (Chapter 1702 of the Occupations Code). It is hoped that the following will be of assistance.
First, the distinction between “computer forensics” and “data acquisition” is significant. We understand the term “computer forensics” to refer to the analysis of computer-based data, particularly hidden, temporary, deleted, protected or encrypted files, for the purpose of discovering information related (generally) to the causes of events or the conduct of persons. We would distinguish such a content-based analysis from the mere scanning, retrieval and reproduction of data associated with electronic discovery or litigation support services.
For example, when the service provider is charged with reviewing the client’s computer-based data for evidence of employee malfeasance, and a report is produced that describes the computer-related activities of an employee, it has conducted an investigation and has therefore provided a regulated service. On the other hand, if the company simply collects and processes electronic data (whether in the form of hidden, deleted, encrypted files, or otherwise), and provides it to the client in a form that can then be reviewed and analyzed for content by others (such as by an attorney or an investigator), then no regulated service has been provided.
The Private Security Act construes an investigator as one who obtains information related to the “identity, habits, business, occupation, knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person; the location, disposition, or recovery of lost or stolen property; the cause or responsibility for a fire, libel, loss, accident, damage, or injury to a person or to property; or for the purpose of securing evidence for use in court. Tex. Occ. Code §1702.104. Consequently, we would conclude that the provider of computer forensic services must be licensed as an investigator, insofar as the service involves the analysis of the data for the purposes described above.
With respect to the statutory reference to “securing evidence for use in court,” we would suggest that the mere accumulation of data, or even the organization and cataloging of data for discovery purposes, is not a regulated service. Rather, in this context, the Bureau would interpret the reference to “evidence” as referring to the report of the computer forensic examiner, not the data itself. The acquisition of the data, for evidentiary purposes, precedes the analysis by the computer forensic examiner, insofar as it is raw and unanalyzed. FN1 The mere collection and organization of the evidence into a form that can be reviewed and analyzed by others is not the “securing of evidence” contemplated by the statute.
This analysis is consistent with the language of HB 2833 (Tex. Leg. 80th Session), which amends Section 1702.104. The amendment confirms that the “information” referred to in the statute “includes information obtained or furnished through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the content of, computer-based data not available to the public.”

FN1 It may well be that the hardware on which the data exists is itself the product of an investigation, but that is a separate question.

Computer Network Vulnerability Testing Firms -- AMENDED January 15, 2008
This opinion amends the previous opinion issued in June of 2007. The question posed was whether network vulnerability testing firms must be licensed under the Private Security Act, Chapter 1702 of the Texas Occupations Code (“the Act”). Such companies typically conduct:
(1) Scans of a computer networks to determine whether there is internet vulnerability or other external risk to the internal network;
(2) Sequential “dial ups” of internal phone numbers to assess potential access;
(3) Risk assessment and analysis on all desktop computers connected to the network;
(4) Notification of any new security threats and required action.
Section 1702.226 of the Occupations Code provides in relevant part, that “[a]n individual acts as a private security consultant for purposes of this chapter if the individual consults, advises, trains, or specifies or recommends products, services, methods, or procedures in the security loss prevention industry.” TEX. OCC. CODE §1702.226 (1).
However, while the Bureau regulates consultants in the “security industry or loss prevention industry,” these latter phrase is not explicitly defined in the statute. It is therefore necessary to look to the rest of the statute in order to understand to which services the private security consultant’s licensure requirement applies.
It is reasonable to consider those industries otherwise regulated by the Private Security Act as reflecting the scope of the phrase “security industry or loss prevention industry.” In other words, the definitions are implied by those services that are regulated by the statute, viz., security guards, locksmiths, alarm system installers and monitors, and private investigators, and not software designers, installers or suppliers.
Thus, the industries that are directly regulated are the same industries about which one cannot consult without a license. Because the Private Security Bureau does not regulate software designers, installers, or suppliers, it also does not regulate those who provide consulting services related to computer network security.
Computer Repair & Technical Assistance Services October 18, 2007
Computer repair or support services should be aware that if they offer to perform investigative services, such as assisting a customer with solving a computer-related crime, they must be licensed as investigators. The review of computer data for the purpose of investigating potential criminal or civil matters is a regulated activity under Chapter 1702 of the Texas Occupations Code, as is offering to perform such services. Section 1702.102 provides as follows:
§1702.104. Investigations Company
(a) A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person:
(1) engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing, or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information related to:

(A) crime or wrongs done or threatened against a state or the United States;
(B) the identity, habits, business, occupation, knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person;
(C) the location, disposition, or recovery of lost or stolen property; or
(D) the cause or responsibility for a fire, libel, loss, accident, damage, or injury to a person or to property;
(2) engages in the business of securing, or accepts employment to secure, evidence for use before a court, board, officer, or investigating committee;
(3) engages in the business of securing, or accepts employment to secure, the electronic tracking of the location of an individual or motor vehicle other than for criminal justice purposes by or on behalf of a governmental entity; or
(4) engages in the business of protecting, or accepts employment to protect, an individual from bodily harm through the use of a personal protection officer.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a)(1), obtaining or furnishing information includes information obtained or furnished through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the content of, computer-based data not available to the public.
Please be aware that providing or offering to provide a regulated service without a license is a criminal offense. TEX. OCC. CODE §§1702.101, 1702.388. Employment of an unlicensed individual who is required to be licensed is also a criminal offense. TEX. OCC. CODE §1702.386.

The aim of computer forensics is to carry out a structured and detailed investigation without disturbing the documented links of evidence. It helps recognize what happened on the computer at the point & time including who was accountable. That’s where as a professional detective in NH, things get pretty technical. I am not saying I know everything there is to know about computer forensics, far from it. But knowing who does is where my ability to network and get involved in high profile cases makes me different.

Keep in mind computer forensics investigators follow a systematic procedure to seize the culprit. The procedure involves three phases for retrieving the proof from the computer system or any storage medium. These phases include acquiring phase, analyzing phase and reporting phase.

Sounds like I know more than I thought I did. The beauty of this for most computer geeks nothing is ever what it seems nor is it where it should be. Computers have become advanced to the point where operating systems are changing every 6 months. With that come new applications and new techniques. Below I will try to break these phases down for you.

Description Of Phases

Acquiring phase
Acquiring phase can be somewhat tricky. First, the computer forensic experts have to isolate the system in order for non-contaminated evidence to come through. Then they create a digital replica of the system's hard drive. That means all erased files, deep-rooted files, basically the whole thing. After, making the replica of the hard drive, the experts lock it and store it safely in secure storage to maintain its accuracy. Evidence and recorded time lines is key to most criminal investigations.

Analyzing phase
The analyzing phase comprises of using different techniques and forensic applications to investigate or study the hard copy. They search for any hidden files, folders, unallocated spaces in disks, deleted messages, damaged and encrypted files.

Reporting phase
In the reporting phase, the computer forensic experts verify the findings, details with the original copy and document it in the finding report. Computer forensics experts then present this report in the court for actual litigation. Amazingly enough most people are too ignorant to understand if it’s been written on your hard drive it’s going to be found. The only way you can ever get rid of files are …. Oh wait I cannot divulge that info.

Conclusion
Although, federal agencies are better equipped to use computer forensics while keeping track and seizing terrorists or hackers, it’s also used in private companies, criminal investigations and now online predators. Individuals seek help of computer forensics in case of identity thefts, to prevent hacking of crucial information from security systems and so on.

Computer forensics experts carry their investigation by trailing the computer criminals. However, locating such criminals is not an easy task. As I mentioned earlier with advancement in technology, online criminals have become more sophisticated and are better informed on using new technology and systems. Therefore, computer forensics experts are constantly creating and upgrading their software to tackle, alleviate, and hopefully deter computer crimes. Last thing to keep in mind is if it has been built it can be broken. Ah technology isn’t it grand!