Around 25 percent of the world’s population now uses social media. This has fundamentally changed the way information is shared and accessed.
Facebook turned 10 years old this year. In this relatively short space of time it has evolved from a social networking site specifically for students at Harvard College, to having over 1.3 billion active users by 2014. Yet Facebook isn’t the only success story, Twitter has in the region of 260 million users and LinkedIn slightly less with 190 million. Businesses know that social media platforms are now invaluable for gathering information and marketing their products. Furthermore key figures in the world such as President Obama, Pope Francis and more recently the Queen have all joined social media, highlighting its reputation in connecting with the public.
‘The ubiquity of social media and digital technology in our lives means the sources of evidence available to investigators are rapidly expanding,’ explains Danny Myburgh, MD of leading local digital forensic lab, Cyanre.
Social media can now provide a fairly conclusive background of a suspect, their employers, friends, behaviours and even where they have been. Moreover information found on social media can now become the subject of cyber investigations. Comments made on social platforms can have serious impacts on individuals or organisations and are now handled seriously.
While social networks may cooperate with investigations, there are still difficulties that arise. Usually when a device is seized by investigators they can ensure the evidence is not tampered with. However with social media the original evidence in question can be edited or erased regardless of the investigation phase. As a result, investigators need to constantly update their methods for data collection and preservation to ensure authenticity. Furthermore Investigators have to ensure they adhere to the terms and conditions of each platform when collecting a user’s information. The majority of social media sites are hosted offshore, so investigators have to guard against illegally accessing information that may appear easily accessible but which they are actually not authorised to access.
Over the past 10 years social media has become essential to businesses in pitching their customers. This will undoubtedly continue as growth in social media shows no sign of slowing down.
Information source: www.it-online.co.za