The project, carried out under the auspices of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, was completed on 30th September and was designed to help identify, secure, integrate and present electronic evidence on on-line criminal offences.
Tools were developed in the course of the project that advise those investigating a computer incident of the procedures to be followed, the legal requirements and the means of ensuring an audit trial for each piece of evidence.
These tools, says the Commission, will enable anyone from system administrators, information technology security staff and computer incident investigators, to police and law-enforcement agencies to follow consistent and standardised procedures when investigating computer incidents using 'computer forensic tools'.
The methodology ensures all electronic evidence is legally and properly gathered and preserved, acting as uncontaminated and compelling proof that a crime or fraud has been committed to company management, industrial tribunals, or civil or criminal courts.
According to the Commission, the tools developed by the project represent the first complete end-to-end methodology to guide investigators through the difficult task of computer forensics.
European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin remarked: "This innovative methodology, developed by the Commission, will not only help combat cybercrime, it will also increase user confidence in carrying out secure transactions in everyday life."
A web site is due to appear at www.ctose.org but was off-line at the time of writing.