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Company Success Stories - Austin Police Department Relies on AMD Technology And Corporate Support To Solve High Tech Crimes
Austin Police Department Relies on AMD Technology And Corporate Support To Solve High Tech Crimes
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Austin Police Department Relies on AMD Technology And Corporate Support To Solve High Tech Crimes
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/
"The AMD Athlon™ processor-based systems I use dramatically reduce the downtime "
The High Tech Crime Unit of the Austin, Texas Police Department (APD) resides in a nondescript office building several miles north of downtown. Detective Clif Blanchard works in a room strewn with motherboards, hard drives, screwdrivers, hammers and crowbars and more computers than chairs. Blanchard, APD’s senior computer forensic examiner, is one of only 275 Certified Forensic Computer Examiners in the world. So, clearly he is highly qualified when it comes to the technical side of his job. Not surprisingly, he conducts his investigations on two AMD Athlon™ processor-based systems.
These days, there is plenty to investigate. In January of 2000, the US Internet population was estimated to be 120 million users. The development and widespread use of this technology made communication easier for millions of users around the globe. Unfortunately, it also created new opportunities for criminal enterprise.
Computer crimes extend far beyond traditional corporate concerns such as hacking, trademark counterfeiting, and theft of trade secrets. They also include consumer scams and crimes against children. These are all areas of concern for Blanchard and his crew, who have arrested 188 offenders since they were formed in 1995, and recovered more than $3,385,000 in stolen property.
Yet the scope of investigations for the High Tech Crime Unit continues to grow in a widening spiral. Today’s computers are often repositories of evidence in all matter of crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, forgery, narcotics and even burglaries. Quite often, for example, Blanchard can determine the owner of a stolen computer by forensic examination.
In a case Blanchard remembers vividly, an Austin resident was suspected of being connected to a murder in another state. When the Austin suspect’s computer was turned over to Blanchard, he found email exchanges between the local suspect and the person arrested at the site of the murder. “The email exchanges we found discussed plans to carry out the murder, including where to dispose of the victim’s body. Fortunately for us, most criminals don’t realize that if you type something on your computer, at least part of it will end up on your hard drive.”
Most of Blanchard’s detective work involves carefully targeted examinations of computer hard drives using a process called “string searches,” which search for particular strings of letters or words. This is a processor-intensive activity. “No matter how fast your processor operates, you can only read stuff so fast," Blanchard said. "But what's so valuable to me is that the AMD Athlonä processor-based systems I use dramatically reduce the downtime it takes to do the actual searches. What used to take about an hour I now complete in a matter of minutes.”
Efficient forensic computer searches require high performance processors. “A string search is all math, all numbers crunching,” Blanchard explained. “That’s why floating point performance is the most important function, along with the bus speed between the processor and memory.”
The work of the High Tech Crime Unit has another profound connection to AMD. In 1994, AMD and other Austin high tech companies joined with local law enforcement to form a policing unit dedicated to investigating high tech crime. Thus was born the Austin Metro High Tech Foundation (AMHTF), which has been providing financial and in-kind contributions to area law enforcement ever since. The AMHTF also provides funds for training, equipment and technical assistance.
The AMHTF membership meets monthly to discuss crime trends, share computer investigation techniques and other helpful information. The Foundation pays the expense to send officers like Clif Blanchard to the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) where he received his certification.
“We launched the AMHTF because, at the time, law enforcement simply wasn’t prepared to fight the emerging world of high tech crime,” said Jim Cartier, AMD’s chief of security and current Chair of the Foundation.
The Foundation includes the Texas Attorney General's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety's Special Crimes Services, and a number of area police departments and other law enforcement organizations. When asked how effective this organization has been, Blanchard was unequivocal in his response. “The Austin Metro High Tech Foundation is unique in the world, as far as I know. The top security guys from each company come together once a month, and the environment within that group, even among competitive companies is not secrecy and security, but openness and problem solving. In my book, it’s the greatest public-private partnership ever conceived.”
Another aspect of the Foundation’s work is providing assistance in crime investigations that require a greater understanding of the arcane technology of particular companies. Occasionally, police investigators need support from private sector engineers who know the ins and outs of their products better than anyone. "Usually, we know when something's not working right, but we can't always figure out why. AMD is one of the companies that never fails to get an answer for us,” said Blanchard. “I’m sold on AMD, at home and at work.”
©2001 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Athlon, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product names used are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies
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