Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

5-22

Authors: N. Mlitwa, Y. Kachala

That knowledge is power is fast becoming a cliche within the intelligentsia. Such power however, depends largely on how knowledge itself is exchanged and used, which says a lot about the tools of its transmission, exchange, and storage. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a significant role in this respect. As a networked tool, it enables efficient exchanges of video, audio and text data beyond geographical and time constraints. Since this data is exchanged over the worldwide web (www), it can be accessible by anyone in the world using the internet. The risk of unauthorised access, interception, modification, or even theft of confidential information, leading to financial losses in information dependant competitive institutions is therefore high. Improving efficiencies through ICT therefore, comes with security responsibilities. The problem however is that most organizations tend to focus on task-enhancing efficiencies and neglect security. Possibly due to limited awareness about security, underestimating the problem, concerns about security costs, or through plain negligence. The activity theory of Engestrm and the activity analysis development framework of Mursu et al are used as analytical lenses to the cybercrime challenge in this paper. A practical case study of Company X, an IT service provider in Malawi is then used to understand the extent to which organisations that offer electronic data solutions prioritise security in their operations. It is found that even better informed organisations fall short in taking adequate data security measures. A recommendation for all organisations is that they should not only have a clear policy, but also ensure that it is routinely and consistently implemented throughout the operations if information capital is to be secured. A framework towards a holistic approach to thinking about, and in addressing cybercrime is suggested, and recommended in the paper.

43-58

Authors: Satheesaan Pasupatheeswaran

Both SMS and MMS data analysis is an important factor in mobile forensic analysis. Author did not find any mobile forensic tool that is capable of extracting short messages (SMS) and multimedia messages (MMS) from Palm Treo 750. SMS file of Palm Treo 750 is called PalmMgeV001 and it is a proprietary file system. A research work done to find a method to recover SMS data from PalmMsgV001 file. This paper is going to describe the research work and its findings. This paper also discusses a methodology that will help recover SMS data from PalmMsgV001. The PalmMsgV001 file is analysed using hex analysis method. Solutions were found to recover each message from every folder like Inbox, Outbox, Sentbox, Draft and Template. The research work partially contributes to improving mobile forensic analysis since the finding will be helpful to forensic tool developers. At this stage, this study will concern only the SMS part and not the MMS part.