If you think your spouse is cheating on you then this might be the self-help book you need. Mr. Lucich is a data forensics expert with over 20 years of hard-earned experience. I had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Lucich about this intriguing line of work
Computer, or maybe we should call it digital forensics, is a new science, in fact I would be willing to bet that most people have never heard of it. If you had to describe it in a couple of sentences, what would you tell us?
Computer forensics is not new and I have been involved with it since the late 1980s. However, it is new to the public eye. The discipline of computer forensics is the ability to preserve the contents of a hard drive in its original form that will hold up in a court of law.
Once we have preserved the contents of the hard drive, we now have the ability to search, analyze and recover data without changing the original contents.
What drew you into this line of work? As I understand it, you worked in law enforcement for a period of time. Was it a natural progression to move into this line? Did you already have a data processing background?
I was a law enforcement officer for 17 years. As a state law enforcement officer assigned to the State Organized Crime & Racketeering Bureau for over eight years, I was seizing and analyzing computers since the 1980s. I had a very technical background and was an adjunct computer science professor for over five years. I left law enforcement in 1996 to enter the private sector.
In the late '80s and early '90s I started to see more computers and pda’s involved in criminal investigations and decided that I wanted to get involved in looking for evidence on these devices. Because I was one of a handful of cops involved in it nationally, I became a resource to many agencies and my agency started to lend me out to others to assist in their investigations.
With the popularity of programs on the TV like CSI, the investigative world is suddenly one that is getting a lot of exposure, are you seeing more young people wanting to become involved in digital forensics?
There is no doubt that the field of computer forensics is a growing rapidly and I am currently seeing more law enforcement officers moving onto these positions and colleges are now offering courses specifically in computer forensics. These classes are often filled with people of all ages who want to enter this field.
I have been involved in the Data Processing world for over 30 years and I am amazed at how little people understand about how insecure their information is. I am wondering why you did not write a generic book about digital forensics, and the dangers inherent from relying on the computer, instead of targeting a market (the cheated on)?
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