Operation Endeavour: The Tip of the Iceberg?

In mid January 2014, reports began emerging of a cybersex ring that had recently been under investigation in the Philippines. Crime agencies across the UK, USA, Australia and the Philippines themselves have been working together since 2012 on a case codenamed Operation Endeavour, and recently results have started to be published in the media.

To date, the operation has seen twenty-nine arrests across twelve countries, with fifteen children identified as targets. The case is still ongoing, and more arrests are expected in the coming weeks. In the midst of a series of recent stories about child abuse both on the internet and offline, including the arrest of Lostprophets’ lead singer Ian Watkins, it may seem reasonable to conclude that the sharing of indecent content depicting children is at an all-time high. But is this true? Have the international legal authorities been seeing more crimes against children than ever before? And what challenges do they face when investigating such cases?

Police get tool for patrolling social media

1. Criminals are not always the smartest people. Most don’t tip off the police by bragging about a bank robbery on YouTube, but criminals do use social media to communicate, and police are paying attention.
2. In a move that law enforcement officers might “like,” LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Social Media Monitor will allow police to watch all social media channels to look for signs of criminal activity. As a new feature of the larger LexisNexis Accurint for Law Enforcement platform, Social Media Monitor lets law enforcement agencies discover risks and threats by leveraging social media. The system can target critical incidents such as gang violence, drug dealing, crimes against children and human trafficking.
3. The program is already being beta tested at several agencies and local police forces across the county.
4. According to LexisNexis, the impetus to create the program was a survey of 1,200 law enforcement officers that showed that four out of five of them research social media when pursuing cases. And when challenged, the use of social media sites as evidence for search warrants held up in court 87 percent of the time. But without a dedicated social media tool, officers are on their own when conducting investigations.
5. Social Media Monitor can alert officers to potential areas of concern and help them identify posts or tweets within specific geographic locations. By entering a few search terms, law enforcement personnel are provided with a social canvas within minutes, adding a virtual dimension to traditional public records data. In a recent demonstration, LexisNexis officials showed how monitoring the Twitter feeds of gang members could help them learn code words, drug drops, meeting locations and criminal trends within cities or even larger demographic areas.
6. Social Media Monitor is a Web-based platform with no software to install. It can work within specific geographical or jurisdictional areas and comes with a dashboard that allows officers to filter search results as needed.
7. The program looks to be an elegant way of searching the huge ocean of social media and could empower individual officers as well as whole groups and departments. I plan to follow-up with a full report on how the program is working once local officers have some more time with this fascinating piece of emerging technology. They may have a few success stories to share as well.
8. Read More at http://goo.gl/b1qTU4

Digital forensic tools dig up hidden evidence faster

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Digital forensic tools dig up hidden evidence faster

• By GCN Staff ,Jan 15, 2014

Government investigators and law enforcement officials filtering and searching for forensic evidence on computers can be overwhelmed by the frequency and complexity of digital investigations.
AccessData, a developer of stand-alone and enterprise-class digital investigation tools, has added features to its Forensic Toolkit that offer greater visibility into digital elements and artifacts left on computers to help ensure evidence is not missed.
Forensic Toolkit (FTK) version 5.1 now includes native support for Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Copy (VSC), a technology that allows taking manual or automatic backup copies or snapshots of data at a specific point in time over regular intervals. 
Now investigators can “easily identify and quickly examine ‘digital artifacts’ across different points in time, while leveraging all of the advanced features of FTK,” said Brian Karney, AccessData’s COO and president.

Full article at http://goo.gl/P3xjUB

Cops: Stamford Man Busted with Over 500 Child Porn Images on Computer

1. Stamford Police announced late Thursday the arrest of a 43-year-old man on charges that he was in possession of more than 500 images of child pornography on his computer.  
2. According to Lt. Diedrich Hohn, the Stamford Police Department's Digital Forensics Unit (DFU), in collaboration with the States Attorney's Office, conducted an investigation into Efrain Martinez-Guiterrez after the DFU received information in October 2013 that hundreds of images of child pornography were being downloaded at his 31 Stephen Street address. 
3. On January 9, 2014, DFU executed a search warrant at the location and discovered numerous computers that could have been responsible for the downloads, Hohn said. The computers were seized, along with phones and thumb drives that belonged to multiple residents of a basement apartment there. It was then extensively analyzed, Hohn said. 
4. Hohn said it was determined the computer belonging to Martinez-Gutierrez contained over 500 images of child pornography on his hard drive. An arrest warrant was applied for and the suspect was located and arrested on January 16, 2014. 
5. Martinez-Gutierrez was charged with first-degree possession of child pornography, importing child pornography and obscenity. He was held in lieu of a $75,000 bond. 
6. Hohn acknowledged the work of Officers Kevin McKay and Mark Sinise for their "diligent work on this sensitive investigation."