Jim Christy has spent most of his adult life chasing computer criminals and in his 30 years on the job, he has seen suspects try every conceivable trick to hide their digital tracks, including cutting floppies in half with pinking shears. But nothing has made life more difficult for Christy and his colleagues than the rapid evolution and proliferation of technology in the last 10 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, when Christy was a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, a routine seizure of computer equipment might include one PC, a box of 5.25-inch floppies and perhaps some records of the suspect’s activity on a bulletin board or early online service…
