FBI Confidential

FBI Confidential


Computer Forensics and your digital footprint

July 19, 2018

You've probably heard that nothing you delete from a computer or a smartphone is ever really gone. Supervisory Special Agent Cheney Eng-Tow explains how that helps him catch criminals. As part of the Intermountain West's Regional Computer Forensics Lab, or RCFL, his team knows how to find digital evidence. It's one of more than a dozen similar labs across the country tasked with helping catch criminals with evidence on computers, smartphones and other devices. For example, Eng-Tow's team helped catch a serial rapist from Montana after retrieving videos the subject had recorded of his victims because his own image was reflected in a mirror, and by looking at a hidden app on his phone. Whether it's photo enhancement or following the money in a fraud case, the team works closely with local law enforcement to stop crime.