It appears that threat actors, criminals, and others that seek to cause harm, hack, and damage on a global scale are living on borrowed time – due to the swift advances being made by computer forensics companies.
For they are at the forefront of developing groundbreaking investigation tools and systems for law enforcement agencies, intelligence experts, and analysts from a wide range of private and public concerns.
These tools are often deployed across the web, but increasingly on the dark web, a layer of the internet, where threat actors, criminals, and those seeking to gain from or plan illegal activities usually congregate.
The tools are empowering experts at the click of a button. They can now follow the digital footprints of their intended threat actors by identifying and locating them, understanding their strategies, co-conspirators, and extended internet circles.
The tools developed by computer forensics companies are helping to redefine proactive intelligence today and enable swifter decision-making in real-time.
They are also helping to overcome the time-consuming process of analyzing big data flows that bring investigations to grinding halt as analysts assess whether the information they have is critical or a distraction.
Some of the best computer forensics companies have developed platforms that can also help investigators find clues with the minimum of information, make their inquiries more agile and accurate, and predict threats.
Using the best of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), their solutions can scan to identify and locate links between threat actors and links to other actors within their circles.
These solutions are regularly deployed to collect and analyze data effortlessly from various open sources such as the surface web, social networks, and the dark web and present a cohesive picture by joining up all the information.
While these solutions are regularly used for national security and law enforcement entities globally, they are also proving exceptionally useful across the industry, financial institutions, and the corporate sector to protect assets and nullify potential attacks.
AI-enabled WEBINT solutions also enable investigators to probe, collect and analyze data within a timeframe.
These solutions are being augmented by tools such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) since many dark web forums and message boards are in various languages, including English, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese. Tools can help investigators overcome language barriers when collecting and analyzing intelligence.
Solutions are also helping entities to identify cyber threats before they occur. They simplify the process of observing the attackers, plans, and methodologies even as it generates intelligent insights in real-time. The systems regularly track and discover communication points across doc nets that regularly evolve with their malicious activity to trace them back to their origin.
Computer forensics companies are also developing communication methods currently used by people on cell phones and mobile apps. They can target threat actors and methods to organize their activities.
With financial organizations facing daily threats by scammers and cybercriminals, computer forensic companies are working hard to minimize such opportunities.
For example, a WEBINT platform powered by AI and machine learning technology enables it to scan and analyze vast amounts of data across all of the web’s open and hidden layers.
Such platforms enable financial institutions, analysts, and security professionals to conduct effective AML activities and investigations from one centralized dashboard with all the tools they need to automatically uncover and map hidden networks and generate data-driven risk insights.
The tools and systems currently being developed by computer forensics companies, with AI and machine learning technologies, will further establish high-speed scanning and data analysis, and in doing so, reduce investigation times from weeks to minutes.
