Reference no: EM131635781

You are a law enforcement investigator that is hot on the trail of a hacker that has stolen thousands of credit card numbers from an online merchant. The only evidence gleaned from a forensic examination of the merchant's web server is an IP address that may belong to the hacker and a text document that states, "Hacked by thefurman". Your investigation leads to a local university and eventually some hearsay and hunches lead to a specific dorm room. College records show that the room is occupied by Howard Jones and Richard Butler. Lacking enough probable cause for a search warrant, you decide to knock on the door. Jones answers the door and allows you in. In response to your questions he tells you that there is one computer in the room and it is owned by Butler. Butler allows Jones to use the computer to do schoolwork and update his Facebook. Butler has the only profile on the computer, but he gave Jones the password so he could access the computer when he needed to. Jones is a music history major and believably states that he knows little about computers. Butler is a cybersecurity major and will not be back for a few hours. Jones offers to give you the password and let you examine the computer. What will your next steps be? What if any legal issues are there? What if any ethical issues are there? What if any evidence integrity issues are there?