Fergie's Tech Blog

Microsoft Talks Data Tools for Law Enforcement

Alex Goldman writes on internetnews.com:

Once again, software is fighting crime. Microsoft unveiled a suite of tools and initiatives for law-enforcement groups "specifically designed to improve public security and safety," the company said.

Law enforcement agencies, like businesses, face a mountain of data that they are not adequately analyzing. Microsoft's Citizen Safety Architecture resembles IBM's BAO announcement in that both comprise a tool set and method to analyze extremely large data sets and to collate data from many sources.

It's also the latest example of law enforcement officials arming themselves with better technology to help fight crime. The FBI, for instance, said that new database and data-sharing efforts have resulted in solving a number of difficult highway serial killings.

Gathering that data is key. That's why Microsoft this week said it is giving a free tool to INTERPOL called the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE), an application that "uses common digital forensics tool to help officers at the scene of the crime."

posted by Fergie @ 4/17/2009 01:08:00 PM