Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
the. problem. is. exacerbated. further. if. you. have. friends. with.
similar.interests.who.are.using.the.same.tool,.because.they.
will.send.you.the.cool.sites.they.found..Of.course.you'll.be.
returning. the. favor.by.sending.them. your.inds,.and.before.
you.know.it,.no.one.is.getting.anything.done.anymore.
The.point.of.all.this.is.to.note.that.there.is.so.much.to.do.
and.see.on.the.Internet.we.all.live.with.today,.that.the.variety,.
amount,.and.importance.of.the.stored.data.on.the.Internet.
is.absolutely.the.most.important.of.all.the.data.stores.we.dis-
cussed.so.far..Of.course,.the.caveat,.especially.in.the.more.
recent.“Web.2.0”.version,.is.that.anybody.can.post.anything.
on.the.Internet.whether.it.has.any.relation.to.the.truth.or.not..
That.raises.the.obvious.problem.that.even.though.this.is.the.
most.important.of.the.data.stores,.it.can.also.be.extremely.
dificult.to.establish.its.veracity.or.integrity..Keep.this.in.mind.
as.you.consider.the.speciics.of.this.type.of.data.
The.“what”.is.as.impossible.to.deine.as.any.other.ininite.
entity..Sufice.it.to.say.that.it.is.unlimited.in.scope.or.subject..
The.“how”.is.a.little.easier.to.deine,.so.let's.go.there.instead.
As.with.any.digital.data,.the.information.about.what.a.per-
son.accessed.on.the.Internet.is.stored.on.his.or.her.computer.
device. in. the. binary. code. we. discussed. at. the. beginning. of.
this.chapter..To.access.it.in.its.most.basic.form,.a.computer.
forensics.expert.would.open.up.the.data.store.and.read.those.
bits. and. bytes. using. a. hex. editor. (a. tool. that. translated. the.
ones.and.zeros.into.hexadecimal.code)..If.you.know.what.to.
look.for,.you.can.locate.
headers
.(the.code.that.tells.you.when.
you.have.reached.the.beginning.of.a.particular.type.of.record).
that. indicate. you. are. looking. at. the. beginning. of. the. data.
cache.or.stored.information.about.the.user's.Internet.activity.
Thankfully,.for.the.rest.of.us.there.are.much.simpler.ways.
to.at.least.see.the.basics.of.this.information.that.do.not.require.
the.tools.or.expertise.of.a.computer.forensics.investigator.
In.order.to.access.the.Internet.from.a.computing.device.
there. are. a. variety. of. applications. called.
browsers
.. Most.
devices.that.use.Microsoft.operating.systems.will.have.Internet.
Explorer. as. their. browser. by. default,. as. Microsoft. bundles.
