New technology makes it easier to follow a criminal’s digital footprint

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from their digital fingerprints.

Still, cybercrimes reached a six-year high in 2017, when more than 300,000 people in the United States fell victim to such crimes. Losses topped $1.2 billion.

Now, Purdue University cybersecurity experts have come up with an all-in-one toolkit to help detectives solve these crimes. Purdue has a reputation in this area – it is ranked among the top institutions for cybersecurity.

“The current network forensic investigative tools have limited capabilities – they cannot communicate with each other and their cost can be immense,” said Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, an assistant professor of computer and information technology in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, who helps lead the research team. “This toolkit has everything criminal investigators will need to complete their work without having to rely on different network forensic tools.”

The toolkit was presented in December 2018 during the IEEE International Conference on Big Data.

The Purdue team developed its Toolkit for Selective Analysis and Reconstruction of Files (FileTSAR) by collaborating with law enforcement agencies from around the country, including the High Tech Crime Unit of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. The HTCU is housed in Purdue’s Discovery Park.

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Originally posted 3/7/2019 www.purdue.edu