All right, now this is where I have a few different scenarios
for you here.
Can Malware help you in your investigation?
And some people are like, what did she just say?
Heather is crazy.
Can Malware help you?
So if Malware has full command and control
access to your device, if it can write to text messages,
write to your call logs, you may find
that it copies those databases and stores them within itself.
So if the user starts deleting text messages or call logs
before you get to their device, the Malware
may have a copy of it that's untouched.
So that's an example where Malware can help you.
A lot of people get into the mindset of,
this crime happened, this person had to have done it,
so we immediately are accusing someone
before we look at the evidence.
What if that is not the case?
I have worked investigations where it's a nasty divorce,
and a woman wants her child, so she
says her husband's been looking at child
porn on his mobile device.
She had access to it, installed Malware on it.
The issue is, when you scan for Malware, it does detect it.
The other scary issue is, when you go through his gallery
or videos, you see child-exploitation-type photos
and videos.
However, if you actually look at the Malware,
it will tell you a list of every single file that
is associated to that Malware.
In this case, every single file that
was child exploitation in nature was associated to the Malware
that she put on his phone.
So he was not doing anything nefarious,
was not looking at anything that was
child exploitation in nature.
And it was simply a woman trying to get custody of her kids
and putting Malware on our husband's phone.
So be very careful to assume when
you see something that's child exploitation in nature,
always scan for Malware.
Always.
That has to be a rule in your lab
because you could be accusing someone
that's completely innocent.
Now, if you find browser searches and other things,
now you're not dealing with innocence.
But just keep in mind, let the data speak.
Don't let your heart try to push the data
to do something and say something it's actually not.