| This capstone explores the concept of digital information and the role it plays in supporting the efforts of the analysts and investigators who work in the fields of intelligence and law enforcement. It defines information as a unity of data, information and knowledge whose context is based on the user's perspective and where the information resides. While intelligence and evidence are both developed from information, evidence is held to a higher standard because of the judicial scrutiny it faces in the courts. Analysts and investigators in the intelligence community and law enforcement community risk the erosion of intelligence and spoilage of evidence due to a lack of clarity of where information resides in digital sources. A new classification system is proposed that establishes digital information sources as free open source information, open source information, semi-closed source information and closed source information. This system helps to eliminate the ambiguity faced by analysts and investigators, which can reduce their risk producing substandard intelligence or evidence. Keywords: Master of Science in Cyber Security, Robert DeCarlo, covert, clandestine, open data. |
