Computer Forensics 1

I hate this fricking class, since it revolves around digital evidence I have to do a lot of research into court cases!

Anybody want to take a guess at what kind of cases involve lots of digital evidence, or even digital evidence is all they have to get a conviction...

No well I will tell you, Kiddie porn, Murder, are the two big ones but wait there is more, its not just kill them no its rape torture mutilate and murder types.

People that take advantage of people they know and just do not care about how they hurt them, I already have a dismal view of people as a whole.

But I just had to read up on a case that mirrors pretty closely what my sisters youngest went through with the only real difference was the outcome, my niece lived.

Wife says I should tell the instructor, but I do not want to do that I should pass or fail based on my understanding the information not pity from the instructor, and if I end up in that area once all the schooling is done I will have to learn how to process what I see and read anyways, so might as well start now.

But God blessed... this makes me want to either drink till I pass out or say f-it and walk into the mountains to live or die by my abilities and become a hermit.

Well, be glad your college actually has work for you to do.
My computer forensics class involved reading a book and doing some quizzes. There wasn't even an actual professor.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
I hate this fricking class, since it revolves around digital evidence I have to do a lot of research into court cases!

Anybody want to take a guess at what kind of cases involve lots of digital evidence, or even digital evidence is all they have to get a conviction...

No well I will tell you, Kiddie porn, Murder, are the two big ones but wait there is more, its not just kill them no its rape torture mutilate and murder types.

People that take advantage of people they know and just do not care about how they hurt them, I already have a dismal view of people as a whole.

But I just had to read up on a case that mirrors pretty closely what my sisters youngest went through with the only real difference was the outcome, my niece lived.

Wife says I should tell the instructor, but I do not want to do that I should pass or fail based on my understanding the information not pity from the instructor, and if I end up in that area once all the schooling is done I will have to learn how to process what I see and read anyways, so might as well start now.

But God blessed... this makes me want to either drink till I pass out or say f-it and walk into the mountains to live or die by my abilities and become a hermit.

I tend to agree with you. You'll likely need to hack it and learn to process the emotions that come with that field and what you will see or hear of in a manner that allows you to do your job to standard still.

I also understand how difficult it must be for you right now, jumping into it. I'm very sorry that your niece went through something bad.

I encourage you to stay the course as technology is the future, and classes along this line will open the door for you in so many areas, especially federal job opportunities (Should you choose to go that route I hear gov pensions are the bees knees)

Best wishes

-Alee

a reply to: Irishhaf
Try working with the victims instead of the data. Believe me it is gut wrenching and heartbreaking.

I am sitting here angsting over every phone call, and praying that I won't be called out again tonight.

Sucks doesn't it?

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I know I couldn't deal with that, I don't know if I'll purse this into law enforcement or even if I'd be good enough but I guess a lot of my problem is I haven't processed what happened to my niece yet.

Probably should talk to someone about that.

a reply to: Irishhaf
Don't feel bad. I am happy to know there are people out there that have compassion.

I have a Detective that I work with that had to transfer out because he couldn't take it. He said every time he had to work a case, he couldn't get his little girl out of his mind. He said he would find himself crying while processing the cases and he couldn't do it anymore.

I miss him because he was great. He always started by believing and he was so patient, gentle, and compassionate. He was special.

I have some amazing detectives that I work with. Everyone's approach is a little different. He just had a way of making everything go a little smoother and more comfortable for everyone.

a reply to: Irishhaf

You better be careful you don't become what you hate.

a reply to: trollz

You get out of college exactly what you put into it. This is why it costs so much. This way it prepares you for real life.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I am somewhat surprised that this material is being selected as the primary source and training material. Computer Forensics has a great deal more to offer the world than that, including recovering evidence of fraud, tampering with evidence, hacking and cybercrime related specifically to the penetration of security systems, and a great deal more. Why they have focused on the material you mention, rather than the broader implications of training in computer forensics is a total mystery to me.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Beats me man, I have had this instructor before and quite frankly he makes me feel like I am deaf dumb and blind, he is one of those so intelligent he sometimes does not click so well with regular folks. (least thats my take)

If I was to guess, since its a beginner course he wanted to keep it to cases that were pretty obvious, while some of what you mentioned could be pretty difficult to spot if your not very familiar with it. (this is pure speculation on my part)

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: trollz

You get out of college exactly what you put into it. This is why it costs so much. This way it prepares you for real life.

The issue isn't that I'm not trying, it's that the college isn't teaching me what I'm paying them to teach me. Some of my classes involved nothing more than being given a book and told to read it. No homework, just read the book.
In one class, the professor literally didn't do anything. We'd go in and sit down and he'd sit at his desk silently the entire class. He didn't even know the material. A student asked for help once and the professor had to get help from the rest of the class because he himself couldn't figure out how to do the homework assignment.
You wanna know something else? I had a feeling this professor wasn't even looking at the homework the students were uploading (since he didn't know how to do half of it himself). I uploaded completely blank documents just out of curiosity. Sure enough, he gave me 100% grades on them and left little notes like "Good work! Keep it up!".
Oh yeah, here's another gem: This professor literally admitted in front of the class that he alters people's grades so that if the college looks, it looks like he's doing something instead of just giving out As to everyone. I'm not even lying.

Most of the "general" or "prerequisite" classes, such as accounting, statistics, etc had great professors. I actually did learn in those classes. But the college seems to not have people to actually teach the material involved in the core classes for my degree program. To make matters worse, they're finding ways to cut as much money as possible, which results in classes without professors where you do nothing but read a book. For one of my classes, it was "run" by an adjunct professor who lived in another state. He didn't know anything about the course and seemed to have no involvement in it whatsoever aside from us being told he was the professor. Whenever I tried asking him questions about the homework, he'd forward the email to one of the tech people at the college. I had to actually email one of the top people at the college just to get a response once.

I don't care how much you tell me that it's my fault for not learning, you're wrong. It's unacceptable for colleges to take money from students and then not provide what they say they're going to provide.

I just returned home from a meeting at our local Forensic Association. The meetings are usually very good, but I particularly liked the topic for tonight.

At the next meeting we will be working with investigators to assist them with the reopening of a cold case. That one should be good also.

Tonight's meeting was full because we had a lot of forensics students. Our forensic association allows students to join at a very cheap price, $10 a year.

You may find the organization beneficial, and it will look good on your resume that you are a member of a professional forensic organization.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I see... I suppose its possible that in the general sense, the material that you are searching for is going to be easier to spot, because of its blatancy, when compared with one dodgy bit of accounting in amongst a huge glut of numerical data...

Perhaps the instructor is operating on an intellectual level where his ability to understand the psychological threat that is posed by the course material, is somewhat less than it might otherwise be, because he is approaching the matter from a pure logic standpoint, rather than an emotionally active standpoint?