ISP logs? Can’t you just delete those from your computer?”
“Yes, but it’s not as simple as deleting. Many people think that when they send documents to the recycle bin they’re gone, but they’re not. And even if you take the next step and delete the contents of your recycle bin, they’re still on your database. Private detectives and police investigators could still use programs such as EnCase and FRED to recover evidence from parts of your drive.”
“So you’re telling me that if I, for example, had something sensitive, let’s say illegal, and pressed delete, or put it in the recycling bin, it’s always going be on the hard drive?”
Tom nodded. “Exactly. Which is why the police have been able to arrest so many pedophiles. The evidence of their illegal activities has been retained on their hard drives, even when they thought they had deleted it.”
“Is there anything you can do to remove something completely from your computer?”
“There’s something called Evidence Eliminator. It’s the equivalent to a government-level wipe that people say can deep-clean your computer of sensitive material. I have never used the program myself, though, so I don’t really know how efficient it is.”
“Interesting,” de Jersey said. “What about e-mail?”
“Well, an e-mail travels through several servers on its way to its destination. This means it can be intercepted and read. You never know who might be reading your e-mail. At the moment, police are monitoring the Net for terrorist communications. Numerous people have been arrested here that way.”
De Jersey’s mind was racing with ways to use the new technology to his advantage. “I read an article about hacking recently. How does that work?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Well, if someone wanted to hack into a company’s files, how would they do it?”
Tom shrugged his shoulders. “I have a basic understanding of what’s involved, but I’ve never done it myself so I couldn’t tell you. Some of the things hackers have done are pretty funny, though.”
“Like what?” de Jersey asked, not very interested.
“A few years back, two hackers rigged a radio station’s phone system during a phone-in show to let only their calls through.” He laughed. “They won two cars, trips all round the world, and twenty thousand pounds!” Tom noticed that his pupil’s attention was wandering.
“You know what, Mr. de Jersey; the best place to get hold of this information is the Net itself. You should start using the chat rooms, get on-line with some guys who know what they’re talking about.” Tom checked his watch.
“Could you show me again how to get into the chat rooms? Then we’ll call it quits for the day,” de Jersey said. “Why don’t we use your computer?”
Tom began tapping away. De Jersey didn’t want to take any risk, however small, that someone might trace anything back to his computer. He thought it prudent from then on to use Tom’s laptop exclusively.
“Okeydokey,” Tom said. “Anything in particular you’d like to chat about or discuss?”
De Jersey gave it a second’s thought. “Yeah, how about something like those kids that hacked into the radio show?”
Tom tapped away for a few seconds. “If we get someone on-line who doesn’t have the information we want, he can direct us to a more specialized chat room. Here we go.”
Tom typed away in search of information about hacking, then asked what de Jersey wanted to call himself.
“Erm, how about Bill Haley?” he said. Tom did not react—he was probably too young to remember the old rock-and-roller. He simply typed in the name. Then they watched the screen. Within moments they had received a message. “Good God, that was quick,” de Jersey said, fascinated.
“Well, some of these guys spend all day on there.”
A short message on the screen told them that its author didn’t know anything about hacking but that he had lost the password to his Toshiba
“Yes, but it’s not as simple as deleting. Many people think that when they send documents to the recycle bin they’re gone, but they’re not. And even if you take the next step and delete the contents of your recycle bin, they’re still on your database. Private detectives and police investigators could still use programs such as EnCase and FRED to recover evidence from parts of your drive.”
“So you’re telling me that if I, for example, had something sensitive, let’s say illegal, and pressed delete, or put it in the recycling bin, it’s always going be on the hard drive?”
Tom nodded. “Exactly. Which is why the police have been able to arrest so many pedophiles. The evidence of their illegal activities has been retained on their hard drives, even when they thought they had deleted it.”
“Is there anything you can do to remove something completely from your computer?”
“There’s something called Evidence Eliminator. It’s the equivalent to a government-level wipe that people say can deep-clean your computer of sensitive material. I have never used the program myself, though, so I don’t really know how efficient it is.”
“Interesting,” de Jersey said. “What about e-mail?”
“Well, an e-mail travels through several servers on its way to its destination. This means it can be intercepted and read. You never know who might be reading your e-mail. At the moment, police are monitoring the Net for terrorist communications. Numerous people have been arrested here that way.”
De Jersey’s mind was racing with ways to use the new technology to his advantage. “I read an article about hacking recently. How does that work?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Well, if someone wanted to hack into a company’s files, how would they do it?”
Tom shrugged his shoulders. “I have a basic understanding of what’s involved, but I’ve never done it myself so I couldn’t tell you. Some of the things hackers have done are pretty funny, though.”
“Like what?” de Jersey asked, not very interested.
“A few years back, two hackers rigged a radio station’s phone system during a phone-in show to let only their calls through.” He laughed. “They won two cars, trips all round the world, and twenty thousand pounds!” Tom noticed that his pupil’s attention was wandering.
“You know what, Mr. de Jersey; the best place to get hold of this information is the Net itself. You should start using the chat rooms, get on-line with some guys who know what they’re talking about.” Tom checked his watch.
“Could you show me again how to get into the chat rooms? Then we’ll call it quits for the day,” de Jersey said. “Why don’t we use your computer?”
Tom began tapping away. De Jersey didn’t want to take any risk, however small, that someone might trace anything back to his computer. He thought it prudent from then on to use Tom’s laptop exclusively.
“Okeydokey,” Tom said. “Anything in particular you’d like to chat about or discuss?”
De Jersey gave it a second’s thought. “Yeah, how about something like those kids that hacked into the radio show?”
Tom tapped away for a few seconds. “If we get someone on-line who doesn’t have the information we want, he can direct us to a more specialized chat room. Here we go.”
Tom typed away in search of information about hacking, then asked what de Jersey wanted to call himself.
“Erm, how about Bill Haley?” he said. Tom did not react—he was probably too young to remember the old rock-and-roller. He simply typed in the name. Then they watched the screen. Within moments they had received a message. “Good God, that was quick,” de Jersey said, fascinated.
“Well, some of these guys spend all day on there.”
A short message on the screen told them that its author didn’t know anything about hacking but that he had lost the password to his Toshiba
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