Agape Blog

The technology leader in the design and manufacture of high-speed Hard Drive Duplication equipment, Intelligent Computer Solutions (ICS) has developed the hard Disk Drive duplication technology enabling fast copy of hard drives with stand alone hardware. Recently they have launched two new models: Rapid Image 7012 and Rapid Image 7020.

The Rapid Image family of duplicators are complete solution stations designed to provide the fastest and latest technology in Hard Drive Duplication with the ultimate User Management Tools. They are designed to copy up to 19 “Target” hard drives simultaneously at speeds exceeding 6GB/minute. They can also be configured to store images, upload and download images from the network.

Rapid Image 7012 with 3.5″ drive caddies

The Rapid Image 7012 is a compact Hard Drive Duplicator designed to copy 1 “Master” hard drive to 11 “Target” hard drives simultaneously at speeds exceeding 6 GB/minute. It can also be configured to have up to 4 “Master” hard drives to store images and copy up to 8 “Target” hard drives with no speed degradation.

Rapid Image 7020 with 3.5″ drive caddies

The Rapid Image 7020 is a compact Hard Drive Duplicator designed to copy 1 “Master” hard drive to 19 “Target” hard drives simultaneously at speeds exceeding 6 GB/minute. It can also be configured to have up to 4 “Master” hard drives to store images and copy up to 16 “Target” hard drives with no speed degradation.

We are the authorized distributors of ICS products in India. For more information on these ICS products, write to us at: info (at) agapeinc (dot) in

New way of fraud and internet scam (Internet Service Provider Consortium fraud)

This is to aware the chief executives of every company about the new way of fraud and internet scam. They might receive an mail (sample given below) which is scam and completely trying to compromise the system as well as network. The sender poses itself as a part of Internet Service Provider Consortium fraud team.

Here’s how the email would look like:

From: Monitoring Team
Date: 11/08/08 08:33:29
To: client
Subject: Your internet access is going to get suspended

Your internet access is going to get suspended.

The Internet Service Provider Consortium was made to protect the rights of software authors, artists.

We conduct regular wiretapping on our networks, to monitor criminal acts.

We are aware of your illegal activities on the internet which were originating from

You can check the report of your activities in the past 6 month that we have attached. We strongly advise you to stop your activities regarding the illegal downloading of copyrighted material of your internet access will be suspended.

Sincerely
ICS Monitoring Team

The analysis of cases reveal that these are new way of social engineering techniques to enter into the secure network or system. They provide attachment which is Trojan dropper, which will install after opening the detail attachment.  After installation system will be in a compromised state and the whole information of the system will be sucked  passively.

Remedial method to safeguard yourself from such an email is by deleting such an email straightaway. Also do not open the attachments.

For further assistance please mail to advice [at] agapeinc [dot] in

Online chatting is gained much appreciation amongst the youngsters early-on. But chatting online has become a very important means of communication as more and more people are using it for their official & personal works. And that means loads of digital evidence. As an examiner, you need a specialized tool to perform a thorough analysis of chat logs. Paraben’s Chat Examiner is a specialized forensic product that will will always be a must for you forensic toolkit. Chat Examiner supports ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, Trillian, Skype, Hello and Miranda. Some other basic features of the same are:

1. Compatible with Paraben’s P2 Examination Technology
2. Supports ICQ 1999-2003b, Yahoo, MSN 6.1, 6.2, 7.0, & 7.5, Trillian, Skype, Hello, & Miranda Chat Logs
3. Auto-search function helps locate Chat Logs
4. Complete bookmarking and reporting functionality
5. Advanced filtering and searching options
6. Open multiple chat databases in one workspace

A new Pocket PC surveillance tool has come up that is designed to fetch detailed mobile phone information, thereby making the task of the mobile forensic investigators-easy. The tool can fetch OS registry information, database records, files information along with other phone information like contact numbers SMS, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number, IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) number, battery status, signal quality, mobile model number and more with the facility of restoring the recovered data on the laptop or desktop system.

Windows mobile software is specifically useful for forensic investigators to examine and extract all relevant information of Windows based cell phone devices including pocket PC, PDA, hand held PC device, palm device, smart phones, palm OS platform device of all major brands like Nokia, Hitachi, HP iPAQ, Motorola, Samsung, i-mate JasJar, Siemens, etc.

A police officer rushes on to a crime scene, plays with the computer and executes some 150 evidence gathering commands in 15 minutes. A scene from CSI? No, this is a common scene for investigating police officers; thanks to Microsoft.

Microsoft had released a free tool (Beta version) called - Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE), that can be loaded onto a portable device such as a USB drive. COFEE automates some 150 evidence-gathering commands for computers in short time. This tool was available only to law enforcement agencies to test the functionality and strength of the tool. Being a Microsoft product, COFEE is designed to extract information from Windows-based systems only.

The best part with the tool is that an officer with “no or basic training” can extract the data in about 15 minutes and maintain its integrity. It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.

Many law enforcement agencies in around 15 countries, including Poland, Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States have been using COFEE to crack a variety of online crimes and recover digital evidence. And seeing the success of the beta version, Microsoft has decided to roll out its release version soon, with more features.

I was researching for the training providers in forensics space to understand how training is provided in this field. Basically, I was hunting for institutes/organisations which provide online/offline training to law enforcement agencies, professionals and students. Here is what i have found out so far -

1. National Computer Forensic Academy
http://www.gohtci.com/training/index.php

2. Asian School of Cyber Laws
http://www.asianlaws.org

3. Purdue University
http://cyberforensics.purdue.edu/Courses.aspx

4. National Institute of e-Forensic (NIeF)
http://www.nief.in

5. Cyber Law College
http://www.cyberlawcollege.com

6. Forensic Education
http://www.forensiceducation.com/forensic_edu/index.htm

7. India Forensic
http://www.indiaforensic.com/education

8. University of Florida
http://www.forensicscience.ufl.edu/Programs.asp

9. University of FairFax
http://www.ufairfax.net/ufairfax/academics/courses/

10. InfoSec Institute
http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/computer_forensics_training.html

I am still working on getting more of such training providers to lengthen this list. Any thoughts…

UK-based internet security technology company First Cyber Security has teamed up with software provider Phatware to develop a technology that will fight against internet fraud. Their joint venture named Heracles Research, would deliver their first product by using First Cyber Security’s core technology which will verify all URl’s in each email message received and filter the ones containing links to fraudlent websites.

The working of the software is described below:
1. Heracles software will filter spam mails from the e-mails that reach the company.
2. It will then scan the remaining e-mails by visiting every link contained in the e-mail and check if the URLs lead the user to a genuine or dangerous site.
3. It will report back to the e-mail, adding a validation report, or alternatively rejecting it if it contains a fraudulent link.

President of Phatware: Stanislav Miasnikov, said: “We are excited to form this new joint venture and deliver email security software based on the technology developed by First Cyber Security while utilising PhatWare’s expertise in software development for desktop and mobile platforms.”

The first beta version of the software will be available in two versions: Client-side for MS Outlook 2007 or later and Server-side for MS Outlook 2007.

With the annual rate of cyber crimes increasing at 100 percent, the cyber cell of Delhi Police made a great effort in training 100 officials.
The officials had undergone a six-weeks training programme at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. They were given training in hardware and software, computer networks, cyber crime, digital fraud, incident response systems, computer forensics fundamentals, cyber law, e-mail crime, cyber forensics, credit card frauds and e-mail tracing. The training program concluded recently and the first batch of 100 investigating officers of Delhi Police and 2 officers of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were handed certificates in ‘Cyber Crime Investigation and Computer Forensics’ yesterday.

With terrorists and criminals, increasingly using computers to accomplish terrorists attacks, threats and scams, the need for police officers who can investigate cyber crimes has risen manifold. This was a great effort undertaken by the Delhi Police to train its officials to fight against the increasing  white collar crimes.

Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal said that 100 more officers would undergo similar training soon.

A new software tool: JDAFTS has been launched in the demo version for forensic professionals. JDAFTS, which stands for Jones Dykstra & Associates Forensic Tool Suite, includes case data management applications that extend beyond the capabilities of currently-available forensic software applications. The tool is designed for computer forensics, corporate, government, and law enforcement investigators as well as universities.

It is easy to use and allows forensics professionals to import, analyze, compare, and export electronic activity logs from sources including web browser activities, Windows Recycle Bins, and software packages like EnCase and Forensic Toolkit (FTK).

JDAFTS features include:
• Comprehensive Data Timeline
• Quick Reports

Thus, JDAFTS benefits Electronic Forensics Professionals in Legal, Corporate, Consulting, Government, Law Enforcement and Academic Fields.

More information on this tool can be gathered at: www.jonesdykstra.com/JDAFTS

We had mentioned a few days ago that our product AgapeMobiTool is under testing process. Today we completed the final phase of the testing process and will be releasing its version 1.0 soon.

AgapeMobiTool is forensically valid software for acquiring & decoding data stored in Mobile phone & SIM. It maintains chain of events to find information from a device for investigation purposes.

GENERAL FEATURES:
1. Acquisition of data from GSM/CDMA SIM cards including text messages, phonebook, and call logs.
2. Recovers deleted data from GSM/CDMA SIM cards.
3. Supports with Infrared, Bluetooth & Serial Cables.
4. Acquisition of data from mobile phone memory including pictures, videos, audios, themes.
5. Text, Hex & ASCII data viewing options available.
6. Generates report using XML style sheet.
7. Data acquisition rate for SIM is about 4kbps.

INVESTIGATOR FRIENDLY FEATURES:
1. Data integrity reserved by MD5 & SHA1.
2. Secure acquisition through wireless media.
3. Available with complete hardware kit.

AgapeMobiTool will be available in three different editions.

1. Enterprise Edition
2. Professional Edition
3. Standard Edition