FORENSICS
Forensics, by and large, is the application of science to the legal process. It is an emerging research domain in India. There are many different types of forensic sciences baring their vital presence possibly in every field of human endeavor. Of these, let us now discuss about the computational, cyber and the DNA forensics.

COMPUTATIONAL FORENSICS:
The development of computational methods or mathematical and software techniques to solve forensic issues is called computational forensics. These methods analyze the evidence beyond human cognitive ability. They scrutinize a large volume of data, which is at any case impossible for a human mind to figure out. In spite of this, we can’t say that these techniques alone would serve our purpose because computational forensics is a field which needs huge collaboration between recognition and reasoning abilities of humans combined with comprehension and analytic abilities of the tool or a machine, which is most of the times, a computer.
Computational forensics aids us to model the uncertain. At the crime scenes, we usually get incomplete or broken evidences. These evidences are later on modeled by the computational forensic tool which gives us first clues from its largest biometric database (fingerprints, criminal histories, mug-shots, scar and tattoo, physical characteristics like height, weight, hair and eye color and aliases), which is a collection of significant information regarding the criminals, their criminal history and the nature of crimes committed. It gives possible hints and suggests possible matches of who the suspect is.
Computational forensics is not as easy as it seems. It is an intrinsic process whose central themes are accuracy and precision. For example, during finger – print analysis, as finger – prints are invisible to the naked eye, a computational forensic scientist lifts evidences carefully using either powder or ultraviolet illumination, avoiding the possibility of misinterpretation on the part of computer. In this type of cases, they employ techniques such as predicting the core point of finger - print, usually the center in the finger around which the ridges flow. By this, they guess from which part of the finger it came from and thus orient the print for further analysis. Usually, this sought of examination provides them with three kinds of results namely individualization (where there are strong evidences to confirm the identity of the suspect), exclusion (where they are unlikely to confirm who the suspect is and rely on elimination by which few possibilities are ruled out) and inconclusive (where they are in a dilemma). This categorization is not only limited to computational forensic scientists. These are the areas which any forensic scientist will experience in his life – time.

CYBER FORENSICS:
Cyber forensics is also known as computer forensics, which is a kind of digital forensics, or forensic information technology. It is usually the process of extracting lost (or) manipulated data from the computer storage media. They help in maintaining information security and also protect corporate assets. It deals with intensive data analysis. Electronic evidences are fragile and can easily be modified. Additionally, cyber thieves, criminals, and dishonest employees hide, wipe, disguise, cloak, encrypt and destroy evidence from storage media. In order to prevent these and analyze every possibility, cyber forensic scientists collect the content of all servers, personal computers, mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Data / Digital Assistants), printers, copiers, backups, etc. After this, they also collect data from paper documents and surf the net, to connect the dots pertaining to data specified by all these devices.
The scope of a forensic analysis can vary from simple information retrieval to reconstructing a series of events. It also investigates a wide variety of crime like child pornography; murder; money laundering; and cyber warfare, a product of international terrorism. Computer forensics has been used as evidence in criminal law since the mid 1980s. The recent case of Michael Jackson’s mysterious death accounts recovery of its major evidence to cyber forensics. Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor of the deceased Michael Jackson, was convicted partially by digital evidence on his computer. This evidence included medical documentation showing lethal amounts of propofol.
A number of techniques like cross – drive analysis (correlates information found on multiple hard drives by which social networks are identified), live analysis (examining the operating system [OS], imaging the hard drive volume, etc.), retrieval of deleted files (though files are deleted, they are still stored in the OS and can be reconstructed from physical disk sectors), and tracing of volatile data (using a software like Capture GUARD Gateway which bypasses windows login on locked computers of the accused) were used during computer forensics investigations.
The live analysis is a complicated process which has to be done before the machines’ battery is low as charging heats up the sensors, leads to thermal runaway and affects the accuracy of data leading to cold boot attack (low temperatures and high cell voltages increase the time of data recovery). Maybe, it is due to this sensitiveness that these machines are put in AC rooms. In case we have no other option but to charge a died down computer, we have to provide the machine with continuous power supply using UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and shouldn’t allow the screen to go blank i.e; operate the mouse – jiggler (move the mouse rapidly in small movements). However, one of the easiest ways to capture data is by actually saving the RAM data to disk. The other techniques used include reviewing the Windows registry for suspect information, discovering and cracking passwords, keyword searches for topics related to the crime, and extracting e-mails through IP tracking.
So far, we have seen only one side of a coin and the other side of equal potential is also awaiting our due attention, that is, the perpetrators of crime came up with a conflicting branch called Anti – computer forensics which employs techniques such as IP Address Spoofing, attaching virus through spyware, malware and adware, and of course, hacking. The terror attacks in Mumbai, though are known to take place due to negligence of authorities, the principle reason behind them are master minds who employed IP address spoofing for financial transactions and planning the attacks. Computer forensics also detects practices like steganography, the process hiding data inside of a picture or digital image. These pictures / images are easily traceable as they have a unique has tag (#) that can be detected by computer forensic analysis.

Finally, to avoid confusion and differentiate between computational and computer / cyber forensics, in the former, the crime is committed out there and evidences are predicted to greater perfection with the aid of computer. In the latter, crime takes place within the computer, that is, the computer, along with its owner is victimized by the perpetrator.

DNA FORENSICS:
This is a distinct field of forensics that deals with the alphabet of life, the DNA. Every cell in our body contains DNA. 99.9 % of human DNA is the same in everyone, only 0.1% of our DNA is unique. Each human cell contains three billion DNA base pairs. Our unique DNA, 0.1 percent of 3 billion, amounts to 3 million base pairs. This is more than enough to provide profiles that accurately identify a person. DNA is generally collected from samples of blood, saliva, urine, hair, nails, etc. The method of DNA procurement has transformed tremendously all these years. In olden days, the DNA has to be in the size of a dime to profile it. But, now – a – days, even saliva from that of a cigarette butt is also enough.
The father of DNA forensic analysis is Alec Jeffery. In 1985, he discovered the method of DNA fingerprinting (also known as DNA profiling or DNA typing), which is nothing but the process of maintaining the largest biometric database as in computational forensics, but here the profile is summarized with the help of DNA where information regarding the person’s physical or psychological characteristics, diseases or predisposition for diseases is also detected, but usually not disclosed. This, no doubt revolutionarized the whole field of forensics and today, national and international law enforcement agencies exchange DNA profiles found at crime scenes to identify serial perpetrators and to help solve crimes around the globe.
There are many DNA databases all around the world, but the one that is considered as a standard is the CODIS (COmbined Dna Index System) database. A CODIS consists of two indexes. The Convicted Offender Index which contains DNA profiles of individuals convicted of felony sex offenses (and other violent crimes), and the Forensic Index which contains DNA profiles developed from crime scene evidence. There are different methods by which DNA profiling can be done. These include Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) Analysis, STR (Short Tandem Repeat) Analysis, Mitochondrial DNA Analysis, and the Y-Chromosome Analysis where the perpetrator containing XY chromosome is identified as male and XX chromosome as female and the one belonging to neither of the two as trans – gender. All DNA profiles stored in CODIS are generated using STR analysis. If a match is made between a sample and a stored profile, CODIS can identify the perpetrator. This technology is authorized by the DNA Identification Act of 1994.
But, the main constraint of DNA forensics is that there is every possibility of evidence tampering and contamination, that is, the DNA of the suspect might be mixed up with that of the victims’ (called as cross – contamination) or any random person. This method is complex due to its susceptibility in every part of the world, especially in India because people spit and urinate on roads, leading to environmental contamination and that of the DNA as well. It is due to this that there are debates on the authenticity and the reliability of DNA as evidence. In order to avoid this contamination, at least on the part of forensic scientists, they were supposed to change gloves frequently and use disposable tools for collection and detection.
DNA is not only useful for detecting crimes. It can also be used for identifying the victims of blasts (ex: 9/11, World Trade Centre attack), re – uniting families displaced due to war (ex: the Holocaust of Europe), and establishing the biological parents (N. D. Thiwari case). A relatively new method that recently emerged is DNA sketching, by which we could predict the features and nationalism of the suspect and draw a sketch of it, making our investigation easy, as large part of the world population could be eliminated by this.

REFERENCES
Note: Article name followed by Link is listed below. * CEDAR forensics file:///E:/forensics/computational/CEDAR%20Forensics.htm * Computational forensics file:///E:/forensics/computational/Computational%20Forensics.htm * How rare is the finger print? file:///E:/forensics/computational/How%20rare%20is%20that%20fingerprint%20%20Computational%20forensics%20provides%20the%20first%20clues.htm * IWCFI report - 5 file:///E:/forensics/computational/IWCF12%20-%20Home.htm * Computer forensics wiki file:///E:/forensics/cyber,%20computer/Computer%20forensics%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia.htm * Cyber forensics in India file:///E:/forensics/cyber,%20computer/CYBER%20FORENSICS%20IN%20INDIA.htm * Cyber forensics file:///E:/forensics/cyber,%20computer/Cyber%20Forensics.htm * Can DNA demand a verdict? file:///E:/forensics/DNA%20forensics/Can%20DNA%20Demand%20a%20Verdict.htm * Forensic DNA file:///E:/forensics/DNA%20forensics/DF.htm * INTERPOL and forensic investigation file:///E:/forensics/DNA%20forensics/DNA%20_%20Forensics%20_%20INTERPOL%20expertise%20_%20Internet%20_%20Home%20-%20INTERPOL.htm * DNA forensics file:///E:/forensics/DNA%20forensics/DNA%20Forensics.htm * The history of DNA forensics
file:///E:/forensics/DNA%20forensics/The%20History%20of%20DNA%20Forensics%20_%20eHow.com.htm