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Dr. Bhattathiripad discusses cyber crime and forensics, and how technology is taking this field to another level

Interview with Vinod Polpaya Bhattathiripad, Author of Judiciary-Friendly Forensics of Software Copyright Infringement

By IGI Global on Aug 18, 2014

Since 2007, Dr. Vinod Polpaya Bhattathiripad has been a cyber forensic consultant to police, judiciary, intelligence, and banks in India, generally on civil and criminal cases related to cyber abuse, and specifically on cases related to software copyright infringement. As a software engineer, he has worked in 148 software development projects spanning 18 years. Author of the new publication Judiciary-Friendly Forensics of Software Copyright Infringement, Dr. Bhattathiripad recently took a moment to participate in an interview with IGI Global Promotions Coordinator Ann Lupold, on the changing state of cyber crime and forensics, and how new technologies are impacting the field.

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you become involved in the study of cyber crime investigation?

Dr. Bhattathiripad: My entry into cyber forensics was really unplanned. After earning my master’s in Operations Research and Computer Applications in 1987, I have been a software professional in India. My functional area was business software and my areas of technical expertise were mathematical modeling, software design, development and implementation. Surprisingly, in 2002, I was summoned by an Indian court to act as the court’s technical expert in a software copyright infringement dispute. I was then a real foreigner to the world of legal disputes, and so, I had to learn software forensic procedures from scratch before conducting a detailed forensic study and then preparing a forensic report on behalf of the court. With all that, I was still somehow able to successfully complete this judicial assignment. As a knock on effect of this success, I got attracted to the exciting world of cyber forensics and so, I decided to pursue cyber forensics further, parallel to my software development career. In just a few years, I saw myself specializing in cyber forensics, dedicating myself fully to this brand new area, acquiring a PhD in forensics of software copyright infringement, publishing a few research papers and finally, authoring a book on this topic. I have been a consultant to the Indian judiciary, police, intelligence agencies and many multinational companies on matters related to cyber crime and digital evidence for quite some time now.

Your IGI Global book, Judiciary-Friendly Forensics of Software Copyright Infringement, was just released a few months ago. Tell us a little about the book.

The book too was really unplanned. In 2012, IGI Global had a request to publish a reference book containing latest updates in forensics of software copyright infringement. Subsequently, the American company contacted me to write a reference book on this topic for the international audience in both software forensics and the judiciary. Till then, I hadn’t even thought of authoring such a book. However, by then I had a good collection of information on this topic, thanks not just to my Ph D work but also to my near- decade long practical involvement in this field. I thought that I should have these collected pieces of information published for the benefit of forensic researchers and law professionals worldwide as these pieces of information could potentially help them to contribute better.

Now, about the title. From my experience in software forensics, I had a feeling that, although there was rampant software copyright infringement, most affected parties were not approaching the court for legal redress. This may probably be due to a general feeling in the air that the legal and forensic systems of most countries are not prepared enough to handle software copyright infringement disputes. There may be some truth in this general feeling. The reasons for this feeling may well be: establishing software copyright infringement legally and judicially involves a forensic process which demands a high degree of awareness of the theory and practice of computer science and engineering together with a legal aptitude. As part of their forensic tasks, the forensic experts may have to obtain millions of codes, hundreds of databases, images and other related segments of the software of both the complainant as well as the accused. The experts then may have to sift through these pieces of software segments separately, and finally compare the two set of software segments in a scientific manner to obtain the required evidence to establish copyright infringement. So, this forensic task is complex, voluminous as well as demanding. Further, interpretation of the collected evidence in the context of copyright infringement laws of the country is a Herculean task for legal experts too. The title addresses these issues and provides ways to make the forensic tasks easier.

Who could most benefit from this publication?

The implications of the proceedings and activities of the software forensic process may not only affect the involved parties, the law enforcement personnel, and the judiciary, but also the (large group of) clientele of the involved parties. Hence, the affected parties, the involved parties, law enforcement personnel, legal officers, software developers as well as the software users should be properly informed of these matters. There has been a dearth of reference materials for them to get properly well-informed in this area. The need of the hour was a reference book which brings all the established as well as the new forensics procedures on one platform with their processes explained in a non-esoteric manner that is friendly to the judiciary as well as the lay people at large. This book was expected to fill this gap and does seem to be doing so.

What were some of your most interesting findings in the research and development of the book?

My findings as part of this book can be summarized as thus: (1) A new functional role of a couple of software elements, which can constructively contribute to the establishment of software copyright infringement; (2) a revised protocol by the name of POSAR to enhance AFC, the established forensic protocol in the US judiciary for establishing the merit of software copyright infringement disputes; and (3) some suggestive statistics in interactional pragmatics of court room discourse in software disputes.

The Washington Post recently featured an article on the inaccuracies of law enforcement’s use of cell phone data. What are your thoughts regarding this issue? Can it happen in software copyright infringement cases too?

It is a good question, indeed. Before answering this question, I should explain the question’s background. In this digital world, people leave digital footprints of their activities. Mobile phones keep details of call records. The mobile service provider’s computer server keeps details of activities and movement of each mobile user under any particular mobile tower. Computers keep details of even each mouse-click. Because of all these, digital equipment can be a source of evidence to enter into and establish the user’s actions and intentions. However, each piece of evidence needs to be systematically collected, scientifically preserved and forensically analyzed by experts, before presenting it in the court. Procedurally collected and presented cyber evidence can surely help win any case in any country where cyber laws have already been properly amended.

Now, let me be specific on The Washington Post report. Just because your mobile phone number appears in the Call Details Record (CDR) of a particular tower near a crime scene cannot be a valid reason for the police to accuse you. Nevertheless, such unscientific accusations happen even in a scientifically well-developed country like America. This is what The Washington Post has recently revealed. There is truth in that report. I can further explain it thus: Signals from a mobile tower can travel a few kilometres before they fade. That means, your mobile phone can pick up a particular tower’s signals even if you are kilometres away from the tower. If your mobile phone has picked up signals from a particular tower situated near a crime scene, you will also be listed in the CDR (of that tower) along with the actual culprit. You can be one among the suspects. A good cyber forensic expert can scientifically measure the exact location of each suspect and thus assess his/her role in the crime. Without subjecting the CDR to such a detailed forensic study, no police officer can straightaway use just the CDR information to accuse you. The Washington Post has revealed that, even in the US, there seems to be an unscientific belief among police and law officials that CDR information does not require further scientific scrutiny.

This does not mean that CDR is a baseless document. For instance, if the police have already collected some other information which can be primarily evidential to the suspect's involvement in the crime, then the CDR information (that suspect was not anywhere else but well within the range of tower near the crime scene) adds value to that primary evidence. So, CDR is a valuable record.

The problem lies not with CDR per se but with those police and law officials who are not trained enough to properly use CDR to establish a crime. Lack of awareness on forensic collection of digital evidence is a basic issue across the world.

Can such issues come up in software copyright infringement cases too?

Yes, if the police and the judiciary do not strictly follow the software forensic standards. Just because two software packages look similar cannot be a reason for the court to establish guilt. Both the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s software can look similar when both of them graduate through the same educational system, or have used the same implementation technique from a particular text book or have strictly followed the same international programming standards. Because of these and many other factors, many globally similar elements can appear in the two software systems. So, before comparing two software systems, all globally similar elements (and also a few other unprotectable elements) need to be filtered out and removed from both the software systems in a scientific manner. Failing to do so can lead to wrong forensic decisions which can even lead to punishing an innocent.

Are the legal systems in various countries ready to deal with cases related to infringement of software copyright?

Legal systems in North America, Western Europe and Australia have already amended their general copyright laws to somehow accommodate software copyright and thus, are somewhat ready to deal such issues but all these legal systems still have a long way to go. For example, none of them have so far formulated a proper law specifically for software copyright. The rest of the world is far behind.

Where do you see the future of software forensics in regards to their role in society?

When the entire society is highly dependent on digital gadgets and when the entire constellation of digital gadgets runs on software, software forensics is going to play an important role in any criminal justice system.

Is there any message you would like to give to your readers as it pertains to your research?

Keep oneself away from both software piracy and use of pirated software.

Thank you very much, Dr. Bhattathiripad, for taking the time to speak about your research. I wish you the best of luck in your future study and endeavors.

Judiciary-Friendly Forensics of Software Copyright Infringement is part of IGI Global's Research Essentials Book Series, a collection which offers succinct discussion on niche topics in a wide variety of subjects. Sized and priced appropriately, these concise, advanced, and timely resources will be perfect for supplementary course usage, targeted towards instructors and students, as well as the independent researcher looking for the most recent and innovative research in their field.

Dr. Bhattathiripad will also be presenting his research at the upcoming 6th International Conference on Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime (ICDF2C), in New Haven, CT, from September 18-20.

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