Cyber-Crime Forensics Lab Opens in Orange County, Calif.

January 6, 2011

A regional forensics lab where investigators can analyze digital evidence in their pursuit of cyber criminals opened in Orange County, Calif.

The $7-million lab is the third of its kind in California and the 15th in the nation and is designed to tackle the growing use of data and media to commit and conceal crimes, said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

The 21,000-square-foot lab houses about 25 workstations where data will be analyzed with specialized forensic software, which categorizes data found on computers and other digital media.

The lab also has investigative kiosks to extract data from cellphones, including text messages and incoming and outgoing calls. Investigators can hook the phone up to a kiosk and burn that information onto a compact disc in under 30 minutes.

If phones contain geotagged photos, the kiosks can generate the latitude and longitude of a suspect.

"Almost every case in the FBI now has digital components," said Jason Weiss, director of the Orange County regional lab. "With facilities like this we can help fight cyber crime in a digital age."

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