[funsec] Police blotter: Web cookies become defendant's alibi

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 06:21:20 -0700

A few quick comments. a). An IE cookie files contains an internal time stamp which is much harder to fake than file timestamps.  b).  Regardless of the timestamp of the cookie files, it is unknown who was at the keyboard whent the cookies files were made or accessed.  c).  A more complete investigation may have found other files on the hard drive in the timeframe of interest.
 
Richard
 
 
http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Web+cookies+become+defendants+alibi/2100-1047_3-6129993.html?tag=nefd.top
 

What: A Texas man says the timestamp of cookies on his Web browser proves he was actually online and not where prosecutors claim he was.

What happened, according to court documents:

After a stormy divorce between Erin McRae and Everett Eugene Russell, a judge granted McRae a protective order requiring her ex-husband to stay away from her residence.

McRae moved to her stepfather's home in Shady Shores, Texas. Around 10 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2005, she noticed a white truck parked on the road. She and her friend Heather both claim they then spotted Russell walking down the fence line along the stepfather's house.

...

The third component of the alibi is what makes this case relevant to Police blotter. Russell claimed he was surfing the Web that morning, checking on an IRS income tax return and shopping online at Home Depot's and Lowe's Web sites.

He made a disk showing the Web sites that he had visited on Feb. 26, 2005, and the cookies on the disk indicated that he was on the IRS Web site at 10:29 a.m. CST. The disk also indicated that Russell was online from 10:29 a.m. to 11 a.m. and again at 1:04 p.m. (https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.

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