The online leak of the Microsoft free tool which helps law enforcement agencies to retrieve forensic evidence in the first ‘rush’ of a crime scene is perhaps not as serious as first thought.

This site ran a story a while back which announced that Interpol’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), which focusses on international security challenges, has been given free use of Microsoft’s Computer Online Forensics Evidence Extractor (hence COFEE) to help the fight against cyber crime.

COFEE help scene of the crime officers gather computer evidence in-situ and quickly. This type of evidence is regarded as volatile and not as efficiently collected as traditional forensic evidence. Microsoft hoped that by giving Interpol, and others, COFEE, it would go a long way to help combating the spread of cyber crime.

But reports from various sites online say that Microsoft does not regard the leak as a major leak. It is said to be investigating the circumstances behind it, but pointed out that COFEE is fundamentally an application which contains a collection of digital forensic tools which are common throughout the world. In other words, it is not ‘secret’ code which will unlock forensic tricks and techniques for the criminal community.

What’s more, those in the know said that the leaked version of COFEE was incomplete, with maybe less than 50% of the programme out there. Which leads watchers of the saga to the conclusion that COFEE is about procedure and technique in the heat of the incident, rather than a magical code which allows the police to get the upper hand.

Indeed, some experts have stated their disappointment that COFEE was not better than they had expected. Some went as far as to suggest that other similar programmes on the market would do a better job.

Some cynics have also stated that maybe Microsoft is deliberately downplaying the incident to avoid any embarrassment over its leaking which is not a great advertisement for the company, or the product. Also, others have challenged Microsoft’s relaxed attitude, given that maybe some criminals could learn from the leak and adapt their browsing and internet use accordingly.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Interpol’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), which focusses on international security challenges, has been given free use of a Microsoft tool called COFEE to help the fight against cyber crime.

COFEE stands for Computer Online Forensics Evidence Extractor and Microsoft has handed it to Interpol’s 187 participating countries for free. The application is designed to help scene of the crime officers gather computer evidence in-situ and quickly. This type of evidence is regarded as volatile and not as efficiently collected as traditional forensic evidence. Microsoft hope that by giving Interpol COFEE, it will go a long way to help combating the spread of cyber crime.

Interpol hope that by using such a sophisticated tool as COFEE, they will take a major step forward in being able to assess the significance of what they find on computers and on other electronic devices.

Interpol was formed in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission and changed its name to the International Criminal Police Organisation in 1956. Based in Lyon, France, it’s membership provides it with an annual budget of some $60 million.

Guest Article by Neil Camp