UNT's New Cyber Forensics Lab in Frisco to ‘help Prosecute the Bad Guys'

Bad guys use cellphones, too. But analyzing their phones for evidence can sometimes take months for local law enforcement agencies that have to rely on an outside lab already inundated with requests. But help is on the way for some Collin County police agencies. The University of North Texas is expected to opens its Department of Criminal Justice Cyber Forensics Lab within the next month to help alleviate that case backlog."We saw the need and had to fill it," said Dr. Scott Belshaw, an associate professor at UNT and director of the new lab. Text messages, emails, phone logs, photos, social media posts, map details and geotags embedded in images all have the potential to hold evidence in a criminal case. More complicated analyses can be used to retrieve deleted data. The lab will not only forensically extract data from mobile phones but it will also serve as "a think tank for experts to formulate ways to help prosecute the bad guys," Belshaw said.   Continue reading...