Albuquerque Journal

FBI Plans N.M. Computer Forensic Lab (on UNM campus)
By T.J. Wilham, Journal Staff Writer

Soon it's going to be harder for New Mexico crooks to hide evidence of their deeds on a hard drive.
   
On Monday, the national FBI headquarters announced that it is opening a multimillion dollar computer forensic laboratory in Albuquerque.
   
The new lab in Albuquerque and another one in Los Angeles will bring to 16 the number of FBI computer forensic labs in the country. Albuquerque will be one of the smallest cities to have such a lab, along with Dayton, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky.
   
The lab, funded by the FBI, will be on the University of New Mexico's campus and is expected to open in two years.
   
"It is a boon to New Mexico law enforcement," said Thomas C. McClenaghan, special agent in charge of the FBI's Albuquerque Division.
   
"It is going to keep New Mexico law enforcement ahead of the technological changes that surround cyber crime," he said, adding that in a few years, New Mexico will be known nationally and "throughout the world as the place to go for law enforcement computer forensic training."
   
McClenaghan said Albuquerque was chosen because its proposal included a partnership with every major law enforcement agency in the state.
   
The lab will start off housing nine computer examiners from the FBI, Albuquerque police, State Police, and the Bernalillo and Valencia county sheriff's offices. Eventually the lab will be able to house 20 examiners.
   
The FBI will provide training and equipment.
   
Any agency in the state will be able to send cases to the lab.
   
The examiners will be able to lift deleted data from hard drives, track where e-mails are sent from, and trace the origins of a file.
   
Each FBI computer forensic lab specializes in one area. The lab in Albuquerque will specialize in extracting data from large networks that can't be taken off line, such as banks and government agencies.
   
To do that, the Albuquerque lab is going to partner with forensic experts at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.