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Fox-IT joins The Maastricht Forensic Institute
As of 16 October 2008, IT Security specialist Fox-IT participate as a partner in The Maastricht Forensic Institute (TMFI), the Dutch forensic institute that was launched on 1 May 2008 and has been investigating criminal cases since 1 September 2008. The pooling of the knowledge bases and infrastructural resources of Maastricht University (Netherlands), DSM Resolve and Fox-IT provides the basis for a top-class forensic institute.
Fox-IT
Fox-IT has for many years been the leading expert in the Netherlands in the field of information security, cybercrime investigation and the development of solutions for protecting state secrets. Cases addressed by Fox-IT include industrial espionage, fraud, hacking, phishing and other criminal acts. In addition to conventional criminal investigation activities, Fox-IT specializes in retrieving and interpreting digital tracks. Its unique combination of digital forensic expertise and the use of for example observation and interviewing
methods enables Fox-IT to carry out in-depth and comprehensive investigations. Fox-IT’s client base includes ministries, the General Intelligence and Security Service, the police, banks, hospitals and large
industrial companies.
Fox-IT expects to be able to add value to TMFI on the basis of its cybercrime expertise. The company welcomes the fact that, besides the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), the Netherlands now has an alternative in the shape of TMFI, as this will benefit the quality of investigations.
Ronald Prins, director of Fox-IT: “In the past, our forensic services were focused mainly on the civil market. Now that we have become part of TMFI, we will also be able to address the cybercrime forensics market.”
TMFI
Before the launch of TMFI, the only Dutch institute capable of offering a broad range of forensic research competencies was the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) in The Hague. In TMFI, the Netherlands now has a second forensic institute which, besides carrying out regular forensic investigations, is capable of meeting the substantially increased demand for supplementary forensic analyses in the form of second opinions and counter-appraisals. After a development period of a few years, TMFI aims to evolve into a broad forensic institute of the highest quality, with expertise in forensic psychology and psychiatry, legal psychology, DNA analysis, chemical and material analysis, digital technology and speech analysis. The institute’s unique
combination of natural-science, biomedical, digital and behavioral-science expertise offers new possibilities for integrated forensic analysis – a new and powerful concept in the criminal justice world.
The chemical-analysis part of the institute’s work is carried out by DSM Resolve, located at the Chemelot Research & Business Campus Sittard-Geleen (NL). Maastricht University provides expert input through its Law and Psychology & Neuroscience faculties. TMFI is currently working hard to develop forensic DNA analysis capabilities, which will form an important complementary service within TMFI’s offering. As from now, TMFI will also be capable of carrying out cybercrime forensic investigations thanks to the unique expertise provided by Fox-IT.
Prof. Ton Broeders, scientific director of TMFI: “Fox-IT’s participation in TMFI is an important step in the institute’s further development and expansion; Fox-IT has more than proven itself in the civil market over the last couple of years. The company is ready to enter the criminal justice arena and has for some time been looking for possibilities to carry out cybercrime investigations. Alongside DNA analysis, digital investigations are the fastest-growing element of forensic research. We are therefore very pleased that Fox-IT has opted to participate in TMFI to achieve this ambition.”
