Hutto local makes living as digital detective
In the 1980s, C.M. "Mike" Adams began his career in digital forensics when the profession was much more obscure and known only to insiders as "data recovery."
Now just about everyone has a potential computer risk in the palm of their hand in the form of their cell phone, said Adams, who owns Hutto-based digital security firm, Prime Focus Forensics. Adams acts as a digital detective, spotting gaps in cyber security for private clients and businesses. It is also Adams' job to glean forensic evidence from electronic devices—including smartphones— for private customers and courts.
"Most people think they are phones, but they are really computers with phone capability," Adams said.
As smartphones become more commonplace, so does the danger of digital security breaches. Private investigators often call Adams, who is a certified private investigator himself, about cases in which spyware—malicious, hidden monitoring programs loaded onto an electronic device without the owner's knowledge—has been installed on someone's cell phone.
"It's nefarious stuff," Adams said. "If somebody can get cell phone spyware on your phone, they own your phone just like you do."
Spyware gives criminals access to a phone's files, camera and passwords. The programs can also copy every password and username entered on the device.
In February the U.S. Department of Justice recommended that the U.S. Senate enact legislative changes to allow law enforcement to seize proceeds from cell phone spyware transactions. The DOJ also noted that data thieves tend to act from abroad, installing spyware on phones via the Internet. That makes it more difficult to prosecute the criminals in U.S. courts.
It is those new security concerns and others that drove Adams to found Prime Focus Forensics in 2000. In 2007 Adams obtained his private investigator license because the state of Texas tightened the standards for investigators presenting recovered data as evidence in a legal matter and required certification as a private investigator.
He recovers data as forensic evidence from any device with a digital memory, such as a computer, tablet, cell phone or GPS device. He said almost half of his cases are from private investigations, with 25 percent of his workload coming from criminal court cases and another 35 percent from civil court cases.
Adams also advises private businesses on cyber security. Whenever he visits a company's offices, he finds many digital hazards, particularly in rooms that house network supplies such as routers and servers. A business's most valuable information flows through devices in those rooms, which are often largely ignored or misused, he said. Businesses will often have trashcans and janitorial supplies in their server rooms, Adams said.
"That's the No. 1 place that businesses get tapped because almost anyone can get into those rooms," he said.
Doing one's "digital due diligence" is a must, Adams said. Among Adams' most important cyber security pointers is ensuring one's passwords are strong to give hackers a tougher time of infiltrating one's accounts.
Cyber security is becoming more important as criminals learn more, Adams said. Thieves are learning to find and exploit weaknesses more effectively.
"The hacking world has changed," he said. "It's no longer the 15-year-old kid down the street. It's professionals, and they go where the money is."
Doing your digital due diligence
Always use strong passwords
C.M "Mike" Adams advises using strong passwords to secure one's accounts from hackers and digital thieves trying to access one's money or personal information by digital means. "If someone wants what you have or wants to know what you know, a strong password is your first, best and sometimes last line of defense," Adams said.
A strong password contains a combination of numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters and special characters. An easy-to-remember word, phrase or name can be dressed up with special characters to create a strong password.
Spyware
Spyware is designed to perform surveillance on your computer or cell phone and retrieve the data that those devices hold. The software is available on the Internet at a low cost, and fully legal versions of it exist. Spyware differs from a virus in that it is designed to monitor one's system instead of disrupting it.
Cell phone and computer spyware can
- Activate your built-in camera without turning on the indicator light, allowing a hacker to watch the computer's user without his or her knowledge
- Activate the built-in microphone and listen to the user or the device's surroundings
- Obtain a copy of every username and password stored on a system
- Obtain a copy of one's email contact list
- Know one's Web history
- Listen to both sides of one's phone calls as they occur
- Read one's digital calendar
- Forward copies of one's emails and texts sent or received, including attachments
- See a copy of every document, spreadsheet and image viewed on the device
512-436-3610, www.pfforensics.com
