Criminals outsmarting the law

Computer crime investigations are facing a major upheaval as the shift towards a new type of hard drive technology allows criminals to cover their tracks and outsmart digital forensic specialists.

The new drives found in many of the latest desktop and laptop computers make it virtually impossible to recover files that criminals have deleted.

Computer makers are moving to a new technology called solid-state drives (SSDs), which are faster, quieter and less susceptible to physical shocks as they store data on memory chips instead of spinning magnetic discs.

A Sydney forensics expert says the law is always 10, 20 years behind the technology.

Computer storage manufacturer Western Digital said it estimated that worldwide sales of SSDs were $US1 billion last year, compared to $US35 billion for traditional hard drives. But SSD sales are expected to continue growing as computer manufacturers migrate to the new technology.

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