How digital forensic investigators use social networking for evidence

Social media is much more than it may seem. It’s not just “likes” and posting photos and sharing statuses. Important evidence and even corporate business records have become integrated into social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Most of the time, the content investigators are looking for on these social media sites are in relation to:

- Conducting a background check or making an accusation against a witness

- Determining a corporate position on an issue, fact or circumstance

- Proving whether a person was cyber-bullied or threatened

- Establishing whether someone associated with another person of interest

- Evidencing intent, weakness or motive

- Challenging an individual’s physical location alibi

However, over the years people have argued about whether using social networking site content violates their rights, whether the site itself infringes the privacy of its users or even whether illegal activity occurs with actual knowledge of it happening.

In light of this, make sure the evidence is preserved and acquired properly is critical, which can be hard given its dynamic and multi-format nature. To properly collect and authenticate social networking content, the correct tools and programs need to be used at all times. Significant digital forensics skills are needed to analyze the preserved data to answer questions like:

- Who posted the offending content?

- Can the offending content even be attributed by convincing evidence to a real, live person?

- When was the offending content posted on the social media site?

- How much of it exists across the entire social networking platform?

- What other related evidence is there?

- How accurate is the reported physical location

We use social networking constantly; it is basically a part of our everyday lives. So, because people choose to broadcast their personal lives to the public, digital forensic investigators can use it to get current and accurate evidence.

DLA can provide you with a wide variety of services, from data and WhatsApp history recovery to digital suspect profiling and image verification.