COSI Electronic Education

The nightmare began when local and state police broke through the front door of the suburban home of a doctor and his family in a pre-dawn raid. Police analysis of the computer used by the doctor's seventeen-year-old son, an honors student halfway through his senior year of high school, led to charges against the boy of four felonies and a misdemeanor. Father and son discussed the situation and vowed not to bow to pressure to enter into a plea bargain requiring the boy to admit guilt in a crime he did not commit. This is the story of how forensic computer analysis of the son's machine led the prosecutor to drop the charges and expunge the boy's record.

Forensic computer scientist Matt Curtin performed the analysis and prepared expert testimony for the court.

Presentation Dates

• March 26, 2007
• October 30, 2007

About the Experts Program

Experts is an educational program conducted via videoconference which allows us to connect to classrooms all over the country and offer students an interactive experience with experts in science, math, and technology related fields. The purpose of the program is to expose students to a wide variety of science-related careers, hopefully sparking a desire to further their math and science education while exciting them about the multitude of opportunities which exist in these fields. Last year we connected to over 32,000 students in 39 different states.

About Interhack

Interhack is a pioneering professional services firm, active in security and privacy research, with a forensic computing practice that has been involved in cutting-edge litigation on electronic privacy matters.

Established in 2000, Interhack's forensic computing practice helps in-house counsel, incident response teams, law enforcement agencies and law firms establish facts that can be used in litigation or criminal prosecution.