A security incident is where there is unauthorized access to official resources leading to security breach or violation of security (Nicholson, 2000). Agents of security investigation need to seek advice whether their involvement may be an offense . Gathering information is the main focus of a security investigation. Damage and risk assessment are the major possible outcomes and are set to find out nature and how the incident occurred, issues that led to the occurrence of that incident, people involved and the measures to be put in place to prevent another incident of similar magnitude from happening again (Nicholson, 2000).
Evaluate the incident in order to come up with an investigation plan. Issues to be assessed include the kind of legislation to be applied that may, in turn, determine and set the investigation’s framework (Nicholson, 2000). Also, to be assessed is the degree or extent of the incident and hence the far-reaching impact it might pose for the assessor. The nature of the incident should be assessed to verify if it shows the existence of a systematic complication. It is generally easier to tackle if it is a pattern or where the same issue occurred more than twice. In some circumstances, the investigator passes the investigation to another department or agency in case he or she has limited powers for the collection of required evidence (Nicholson, 2000). Investigations are also passed to another level in cases where a conflict of interest is identified by the parties involved. It is after the assessment is done that an investigation plan is developed. The detailed proposal should show the key issues to be investigated, evidence required and the methods or techniques to be used to collect them and finally the resources and time to be allocated. Of importance to note is that the investigator should get permission from the relevant authorities in order to conduct smooth investigations (Nicholson, 2000).
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Evidence gathering. This is the next step in getting the investigation plan. Issues relating to an incident need proving in order to support the facts (Raheem, 2014). It is this idea that an investigator has to get evidence after identification in order to present for purposes of proving facts. The evidence to be gathered can either be documentary, physical, oral or expert evidence.
Appropriate storage and recording of evidence. The records to be stored should be of physical evidence noting every step. Files should be stored securely and differently according to the order of completion (Benny, 2017). The area of storage should be tamper-free to avoid unauthorized access. Calls and text evidence should be secure. Security architecture should be entirely secure (Raheem, 2014). Since evidence is the backbone of investigations, a lot should be done to safeguard them because a little damage means lost confidentiality.
Preparation of investigation report. At the tail end of the investigation, a report is to be made by the investigator in charge in order to submit a comprehensive summary to the head who is ultimately the decision maker (Raheem, 2014). The investigator writing the report should identify explanations for the findings. In order to make the investigation relevant, there needs to be justifications and supporting material. Investigations may lead to a variety of unexpected outcomes due to shoddy work (Raheem, 2014). This may include reshuffle of persons in different investigative departments and disciplinary action.
Closing the investigation. At this stage, reports are done, and evidence is well documented. It is here where the process will require a third party who is independent and free from bias to review the investigations and propose for improvements if need be. Experienced persons will always find improvements to make the investigations better than the way he got them. They use their imaginations to anticipate possible occurrences (Larry, 2000). The commissioning body needs to be contented that the investigations are proved.
References
Benny, D. J. (2017). Private investigation and homeland security . Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
Raheem, A. (2014). An Investigation into Authentication Security of GSM algorithm for Mobile Banking. Hermannstal: Anchor Academic Publishing.
Nicholson, Larry G. (2000). Security Investigations: A Professional's Guide . Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
