According to the Hill County Journal, Jennifer Bardeaux and Tadeo Graces Jr. were arrested on October 20^th and charged with Tampering with Physical Evidence. The charges stem from an ongoing investigation by the Kerrville Police department in Kerr County Texas regarding the death of Gideon Barideaux, Jennifer’s two-year-old son.

The investigation began in August when police responded to a call about an injured child. Jennifer told the officers that the injuries were the result of a fall earlier in the day; however, officers and medical staff did not believe the injuries were consistent with the fall. Unfortunately, despite being taken to a local medical center and eventually being transferred to San Antonio University hospital by air ambulance, Gideon died as a result of the injuries three days later.

Over the course of the investigation, authorities interviewed both Jennifer and Tadeo regarding the matter and both maintained the child had been hurt because of a fall, a fact the forensic medical examiner’s reports have disputed. Cell phones belonging to both parties seemed to point to a different story when they were analyzed. An examination of their phones revealed Jennifer and Tadeo had each deleted a significant amount of content relating to the incident allowing offers to obtain arrest warrants for both parties based on this alleged evidence tampering.

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According to a federal racketeering indictment filed against Trayvon Hall, the apparent leader of the Baltimore Eight Tray Gangster Crips, and nine others, the government has been leveraging numerous pieces of digital evidence to make its case.

Some of this digital evidence includes group text conversations in which Hall stated that in order to be a part of the gang, new members must kill a member of a rival gang, the Black Guerilla Family or BFG.  Other text messages are also included in the indictment. In one, Hall requested photos of BFG gang members. Two men’s photos were sent in response and within a matter of weeks both men were killed in separate incidents. At the time of the most recent indictment, Hall was already in custody stemming from a gun charge that was the result of a post on social media he made of himself holding a gun at a firing range.  A past felony conviction prohibited Hall from possessing any firearms.

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A Pennsylvania man has been put behind bars after being charged with a sexual assault on a juvenile female. The man originally denied the relationship, but a digital forensic investigation of the cell phones involved proved otherwise, according to The Wyoming County Press Examiner.

Police allege that Jamie Turner carried out a sexually inappropriate relationship between himself and the juvenile, and he now faces charges of statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age.

Turner’s actions were discovered when the mother of the juvenile discovered some text messages on her daughter’s cell phone that were sexual in nature. After going through the phone, she discovered there was an ongoing relationship that she was unaware of.

Turner initially denied knowing the victim’s cell phone number, but a digital forensic analysis of the devices involved showed another story. During a three-day period, the pair sent each other 500 text messages, and over a 2-month period, they had shared almost 14,000 messages. The police specified that many of the texts suggested “sexually inappropriate behavior between the two.”

Turner is currently in Wyoming County Jail unable to meet the bail of $100,000.

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In 2004, Lisa Montgomery murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was pregnant at the time. Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s stomach and abducted the child as an attempt to pass the child off as her own. The crime is considered one of the most heinous murders the state of Missouri has seen. The result of the case is that the first woman in almost 70 years is to be executed by the US government.

The crime began to take place when Montgomery starting using the online alias “Darlene Fischer” and reached out to Stinnett for more information regarding a litter of puppies that Stinnett was advertising. The two agreed to meet at Stinnett’s residence, and the meeting turned deadly when Montgomery strangled Stinnett with a telephone cord, cut into Stinnett’s abdomen, and removed the baby from Stinnett’s body. The baby ultimately survived and was evaluated to be in healthy condition.

Stinnett’s mother informed police about the woman scheduled to stop by her daughter’s residence to get a puppy. With that information, police performed a digital forensic investigation of Stinnett’s computer and discovered the “Darlene Fischer” profile. The IP address associated with the account was traced to Montgomery’s residence.

After questioning, Montgomery eventually confessed to the murder and was sentenced to death in 2008. The DOJ released a statement revealing that Montgomery will be executed by lethal injection on December 8, 2020.

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October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Beth Anne Steele of the Oregon FBI has provided an article with tips on how to stay safe online. In their tech tip article they discuss two fairly large topics, ransomware and business email compromise (BEC). Ransomware is a type of malware which consists of malicious software that locks a computer user out of their system, and will return access to the system via a decryption key once a ransom demand has been met, generally in some form of payment to a threat actor. BEC is when a threat actor impersonates a business executive or employee in order to gain access to specific information such as personally identifiable information (PII) or requests that a fraudulent payment be made. “BEC has cost victims billions of dollars over the last five years” Steele writes.

Steele then goes on to explain two components that usually are seen in these types of attacks, spoofing and phishing. Spoofing is when the threat actor disguises an illegitimate email address, website, phone number, etc. as a trusted source, “often just by changing one letter, symbol, or number” she writes.

Phishing will often make use of spoofing techniques to convince a user to download a malicious file or click on a malicious link. Phishing, much like spoofing, causes a user to think that they have received a legitimate communication from a trusted person or business but in reality it is a fake communication.

Steele ends the article with tips on how to protect yourself, including:

• Examine email addresses, website URLs, and spelling in correspondence carefully.
• Use multi-factor authentication for accounts that allow it.
• Don’t download or click on unsolicited email attachments or links.
• Be cautious on what information you provide or share on social media, as things like pet names, schools attended, birthdays, etc. are commonly used security account question answers or passwords.

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A team of white-hat hackers, led by Sam Curry, discovered a total of 55 vulnerabilities within Apple’s corporate network, reports Dan Goodin of Arstechnica. Curry, a security researcher who specializes in website security, discovered 55 vulnerabilities, of which 11 were deemed critical as they allowed him to take control of core Apple infrastructure and access private information such as emails and iCloud data. The discovered vulnerabilities were fixed quickly after they were reported to Apple.

Curry discovered the vulnerabilities over a three-month period. “The company has so far processed about half of the vulnerabilities and committed to paying $288,500 for them” Goodin writes. It is even possible that the total payout, once all the vulnerabilities have been processed, could be more than twice what has currently been paid to security researchers.

Curry states “[if] the issues were used by an attacker, Apple would’ve faced massive information disclosure and integrity loss.” In current times, there seem to be data breaches weekly, if not daily that are being revealed by companies large and small. Curry and his team performed the hacking under Apple’s bug-bounty program. Apple issued a statement which states “[based] on our logs, the researchers were the first to discover the vulnerabilities so we feel confident no user data was misused.” Of the 55 vulnerabilities reported, 11 were critical, 29 high, 13 medium, and 2 low. Additional information about the various vulnerabilities can be found on Curry’s Blog.

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WBBG-TV NBC-2 in Fort Myers Florida recently reported on an incident that occurred in a North Port, Florida Walmart. Joey Kauffman, 54, was reported to store management when a woman noticed the maintenance worker at the store apparently using his cell phone to take pictures of her from underneath her clothes.

After the report to management, police were called to the scene to take a report and speak to Kaufman. He admitted that he had taken the photos but claimed to have deleted them. The device was turned over for forensic review and the digital forensic examiners involved were able to recover numerous similar images from the phone. These images were reported to have involved more than a dozen different women from the Walmart between August and September of this year.

Kaufman is facing a charge of video voyeurism of a 19-year old or older first offense from the victim who made the initial report. Law enforcement has indicated additional charges may be added as other victims are identified from the forensically recovered photos.

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The Florida Times-Union recently reported on the case of Jason Goff, who has been charged with and pled guilty to attempted production of child pornography. The charges stem from a tip Clay High School administrators got from two of their students in August of last year. The pair of 14 year old girls reported what they thought might be a camera lens peering out of one of the unused, but locked, gym lockers. A search of the locker revealed that a cell phone was taped to the wall of the locker with its camera lens pointing out of a hole and aimed towards where the girls would change before and after gym class.

The phone was turned over to digital forensic examiners for analysis. One approximately 30-minute video that was discovered included female students changing and concluded with Goff collecting the phone with his school id badge visible on film. The phone also contained selfies and text messages attributed to Goff. Further forensic analysis of other devices owned by Goff turned up even more images and videos from the girls’ locker room. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled but Goff is likely facing 15 to 30 years in prison.

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Indianapolis residents Katrina Fouts and Terry Hopkins are facing charges of murder after Katrina’s husband went missing for seven days and was found in a ditch. The wife and her accomplice left behind incriminating evidence from their cell phones that point to their involvement in the murder, according to IndyStar.

An investigation found that Ms. Fouts did not report her husband missing or even attempt to try to call him after his disappearance. Once a cell phone examination took place of her device, internet history began to prove her guilt. Multiple searches were located relating to poisonous mushroom and inquires about overdosing on medications. An autopsy was performed on Mr. Fouts’ stomach and several chunks of mushrooms were located. Coroner John Chaflin stated, “There was a poisonous agent in his stomach… that, if untreated, will produce death.”

A review of what Mr. Hopkins purchased in the days Mr. Fouts was missing were also incriminating, according to investigators. Hopkins purchased microfiber cleaning cloths, duct tape, six-inch diagonal cutters, utility knives, box cutters and cleaning gloves at the Harbor Freight Tools store in Richmond.

Ms. Fouts was interviewed several times and eventually confessed to the murder. The cell phone review also showed, after her first interview by investigators, Fouts performed internet searches for “Indiana homicide laws,” “crime of passion law in Indiana” and “how to pass lie detector test.”

Both Fouts and Hopkins are currently being held without bond and will appear in court in early November.

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An investigation is underway in the case of a German hospital who fell victim to a ransomware attack making their computer systems inoperable to admit new patients. Ultimately, a woman facing a life-threatening condition died after being turned away and recommended to a more distant hospital, according to WIRED.

The party responsible for the attack is currently unknown but is facing possible charges of negligent manslaughter. The attack occurred in mid-September and encrypted around 30 different hospital servers and left detailed information on how to contact the attackers. When a patient in serious condition arrived, they were forced to turn the patient away and recommended her to a hospital about 20 miles away, which resulted in about an hour in treatment delay. The patient ultimately died.

It is believed the attackers were targeting a nearby university associated with the hospital but ended up encrypting the hospitals systems instead.

When authorities communicated with the attackers and informed them the attack had hit the hospital responsible for treating emergency patients, the ransom was reportedly withdrawn, and a decryption key was provided. After that communication, the attackers are no longer able to be reached.

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