Unauthorized Access

Unauthorized Access:
The viewing of any confidential information without permission. 

Unauthorized access is a common occurrence with few organizations or individuals having the resources to thoroughly investigate. A popular problem is the unauthorized accessing of a computer or network of computers by someone with malicious intent from the internet. Hackers can access a network directly from their own, or have control over many other computers (used as zombies unknowingly by the owners) to do the work for them making traceability more difficult. Fortunately with every activity on a system a fingerprint is left. There are a myriad of places on a computer and network to search for evidence of suspected untoward activities. 

We are often called to investigate unauthorized access of web based accounts including Facebook, Hotmail, Gmail, Twitter, and iTunes. In a recent case 200 emails had been sent from our clients Gmail account to all her contacts. Though the estranged husband was suspected we were able to show that the account was accessed from a computer located in Europe. We also advised that the simple password used would have assisted the attacker in their password guessing attempts.