Development of a framework for the investigation into the methods used for the electronic trafficking and concealment of child abuse material

dc.contributor.authorWatt, Allan Charles
dc.contributor.schoolUniversity of South Australia School of Electrical and Information Engineering.
dc.contributor.schoolSchool of Computer and Information Science
dc.date.issued2012
dc.descriptionxviii, 348 pages
dc.descriptionillustrations
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (pages 270-278)
dc.description.abstractThe birth of the Internet removed international boundaries, provided a knowledge base of information and a ubiquitous communications framework for everyone, anytime, anywhere. It also provided a portal for fraudsters, predators and opportunists to prey on the naive and also take advantage of weaknesses or vulnerabilities in this worldwide network of computers. These same opportunists also use this portal for the distribution of inappropriate material, one of the foremost being Child Abuse Material (CAM), formerly referred to as Child Pornography. This research project conducted tests on file movement and concealment that identified items that became evidential artefacts. These artefacts can be a reference for investigators, who rather than having to create a test environment, can utilise these findings and use them as a cross reference to enhance their investigation. From these tests emerged a framework that an investigator can use when presented with a device that may contain potential CAM trafficking and/or concealment of evidence. This framework can be used by investigators to assist them in quickly locating what they are looking for and in some cases locate evidence that otherwise would not have been found. CAM is a by-product of child sexual abuse, child sex tourism and human trafficking. A serious approach toward the investigation into the trafficking and concealment of CAM is needed. Any reduction in demand through this approach will, in time, stem the supply and reduce the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children worldwide. The ultimate point put forward is that, the source of predators that traffic children and produce CAM can be tracked. This framework and other continuing research can be used to capture digital information, formulate it into intelligence and in doing so locate the source of communications or distribution of CAM. This will lead to the apprehension of those responsible. What is needed for this to succeed is a proactive approach and unity in investigations.
dc.description.dissertationThesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2012.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1959.8/138587
dc.language.isoen
dc.provenanceCopyright 2012 Allan Charles Watt. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Australia 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/)
dc.subjectforensic computing;file trafficking;investigation
dc.subject.lcshChild pornography
dc.subject.lcshComputer crimes
dc.subject.lcshData encryption (Computer science)
dc.subject.lcshInternet pornography
dc.titleDevelopment of a framework for the investigation into the methods used for the electronic trafficking and concealment of child abuse material
dc.title.alternativeFramework for investigation into CAM
dc.typethesis
dcterms.accessRights506 0#$fstar $2Unrestricted online access
ror.fileinfo12146595050001831 13146619850001831 9915951992201831_53111873600001831.pdf
ror.mmsid9915951992201831

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
9915951992201831_53111873600001831.pdf
Size:
3.26 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version

Collections