SEARCH Wireless Class Moves out of the Classroom in Crime Scene Simulation

Investigators use a variety of high-tech tools looking for hidden wireless devices.

SEARCH training staff offers something unique in their Advanced Responders: Search and Seizure of Networks course. Whether the class is being taught in the SEARCH training center in Sacramento or onsite in other states, attendees (investigators) face realistic scenarios that are set up in several locations throughout the area to simulate a crime scene. Investigators must identify and collect digital evidence as part of the course final exam.

Prior to the final exam, the law enforcement investigators attend three days of hands-on instruction where SEARCH staff instructs them in the skills and techniques of how to conduct pre-raid electronic surveillance of a target location to help identify wireless networks and access points, and how to locate these networks, access points and devices once the scene is secured. The course material also covers how to recover volatile evidence from common small office/home office (SOHO) routers and from running Windows systems; how to make an image of the running memory (commonly referred to as RAM) of a Windows computer; and how to recover information about wireless devices attached to a network.

The most recent training was provided in Sacramento on August 26 through 28, 2008.

Investigators using a Yagi antennae and laptop, locate a wireless access point for investigation.

"Participants have to digest a lot during the intense classroom sessions. The final exam, which is actually hands-on field work, really shows what they have learned," said SEARCH Computer Crime Training Specialist Chris Armstrong.

"Response to the class has been overwhelmingly positive," added SEARCH Computer Crime Training Specialist Lauren Wagner, who teaches the course with Mr. Armstrong.

SEARCH Computer Crime Training Specialist Keith Daniels provided a segment on using Firefox as an investigative tool.

One of the primary missions of SEARCH is to provide cutting-edge High Technology Crime Investigation training to law enforcement officers and other investigators nationwide. Check the SEARCH Web site for more details: www.search.org.