Data Security in Internet Usage

Germany Is Obsessed with Crime – At Least on Screen

Every week, millions of Germans gather in front of their televisions to watch the traditional crime series Tatort at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday evenings. The series has been on German screens since the early 1970s and still enjoys great popularity. For the 1000th episode, 11.46 million viewers tuned in. The success of the show has inspired many other formats, so that around 100 programs on German television are now dedicated to solving crimes. But how much of this reflects reality? In addition to the “typical” crimes of jealousy and inheritance disputes, investigators are often confronted with very specific cases. Some of these resemble the work handled daily by real detectives such as those at our detective agency in Hamburg (Tel.: +49 40 4223 6960), while others are far removed from reality.

Crime Prevention and Investigation

The routine work of our Hamburg detectives includes classic cases such as infidelity surveillance, civil matters such as custody and alimony investigations, criminal offenses such as competition fraud, employee crime, or corporate espionage, and—since the digital revolution—an increasing number of investigations in the field of cybercrime. In reality, crimes against companies are usually committed by their own employees or by agents of competitors, not by mafia-style killers. While television actors often casually mention terms like hacker, server, Trojan, and dark web, our IT specialists provide real support in crime prevention and investigation.

 

Information security should be a top priority for every company in the 21st century. By securing information-processing systems, confidentiality, integrity, and availability cannot be guaranteed entirely, but they can be raised to a level that minimizes risks. Information security reduces threats posed by disloyal employees, unscrupulous competitors, and profit-driven professional fraudsters. Guidelines for appropriate IT security standards in companies are provided, among others, by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the IT baseline protection standards of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Our corporate investigations agency in Hamburg is happy to assist you nationwide in implementing these standards within your company: info@aaden-detektive-hamburg.de.

IT Forensics: Computer Forensics and Forensic Data Analysis

In addition to IT security, our work in the digital field includes IT forensics. When computers or mobile devices containing personal or internal company data are seized by authorities under a court order, they must be examined for criminal activity. Our detective agency in Hamburg, however, offers IT forensic investigations as a service provider; therefore, we do not require a court order, but we must ensure that the analysis is conducted in compliance with the law.

 

In IT forensics, we distinguish between two fundamental approaches: in computer forensics, our experts analyze computers and mobile devices for existing data, while in forensic data analysis, application data sets are examined in order to reconstruct performed activities.

 

If a hacker maliciously infiltrates software and modifies it for personal gain, traces are left behind. Our IT experts detect these traces in order to uncover the actions of criminal or abusive offenders and, ideally, identify them in a court-admissible manner.

Data Attacks on Companies and Private Individuals

IT security has also become fundamental for private individuals, as most people today communicate via applications such as Facebook or WhatsApp, send emails, make phone calls via IT-based mobile devices (smartphones), manage their banking online, and much more. Privacy has extended into the internet and must be protected there just as it is within one’s own home. Warning signs are repeatedly seen in leaks of private images and videos of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence or Scarlett Johansson. Anyone who feels safe because they are not famous is mistaken: hundreds of thousands of photos on dubious dating platforms, adult websites, pop-up ads, and many other sites have been stolen from private devices and illegally reused—often without the victims ever becoming aware of their public exposure.

 

Even major corporations are affected: Sony Pictures Entertainment, a multi-billion-dollar corporation, fell victim to hackers at the end of 2014, who stole unreleased films and large amounts of internal data in order to blackmail the company. The attack likely caused damages and additional costs in the hundreds of millions and prompted Sony Pictures to significantly improve its IT security standards. Many other corporations understood this incident as a wake-up call to integrate secure practices into their operations. For example, the sports betting and online casino provider Betway now works more closely with professional security firms to ensure that user data is protected at the highest level.

 

The aim of this article is to raise awareness of this issue—both for companies and private individuals. Our corporate and private detective agency in Hamburg is happy to help you protect your devices and IT structures from unauthorized access: +49 40 4223 6960.

Aaden Corporate Detective Agency Hamburg

Contor Center Hamburg

Katharinenstraße 30a

D-20457 Hamburg 

Tel.: +49 40 4223 6960

E-Mail: info@aaden-detektive-hamburg.de

Web: https://aaden-detektive-hamburg.de/en

 

CEO: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

Register Court: Amtsgericht Köln

Registration Number: HRB 83824