Description:
A police force was investigating a Registered Sex Offender’s (RSO) use
of social media. Having identified the log-on history of his username,
an application for the IP address subscriber information was made.
Instead of copying and pasting the IP address into the application,
the applicant hand-typed it in. When doing so, one digit was entered
incorrectly. As a result, the result returned an incorrect name and
address. Police were able to trace this person. Although they found no
connection to the RSO, they examined her mobile device. This did not
match the log-on history of the RSO’s username. When the original
log-on history was re-examined, the police realised the error.
Consequence:
The police contacted an individual unconnected with their
investigation, and carried out a forensic examination of their
mobile phone.
Error Investigation 6
Error by:
Public Authority
Human or
Technical:
Human
Cause:
Failure to take account of the actual time zone in the date/time
stamp.
Data Acquired:
Subscriber information relating to an IP address.
Description:
A police force was investigating a burglary. Stolen from
the premises was an Xbox. The police received IP logon
information for the use of the Xbox after the burglary. This
was an IP address with a date/time stamp recorded in Pacific
Standard Time (PST). However, the force put in a subscriber
request for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 7 hours
different. As a result, they received incorrect subscriber details.
The police visited the home of this subscriber, before deciding
that the occupant was not involved in the burglary.
Consequence:
The police contacted an individual unconnected with their
investigation.
www.iocco-uk.info
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