Two years after Microsoft launched the Law Enforcement Portal, a service that offers crime-related information for law enforcement officials over the Internet, Tim Cranton, Director of the Internet Safety Enforcement Team announced the development of the COFEE project, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, a tool to help investigators “easily and quickly extract ‘live’ data from a suspect’s computer at the point of seizure, before turning it off.”

The new system is meant to replace a process that would normally take three to four hours to complete with the simple click of a button, and completing the work in approximately 20 minutes. Although not everyone approves of this tool, Microsoft believes it had the exact impact they had hoped for: COFEE is now registered in over 15 countries and user by over 2,000 law enforcement officers.

Cranton explained that Microsoft and its law enforcement partners are committed to making a difference in the fight against cybercrime, and although the phenomenon is not likely to disappear anytime soon, Microsoft will be working on new methods to ensure “a safer and more secure Internet.”

“Since forming our group in 2002, we have seen that industry can provide real value by offering technical knowledge to complement and amplify law enforcement’s expertise,” Cranton said. “We understand from our law enforcement partners, for example, that nearly every crime they investigate has a digital component of some kind […] Law enforcement needs our help to explain the technology behind this evidence […] Neither one of us can make a significant difference on our own, but together we can have a real impact.”

The Internet will continue to have its strength and weaknesses; the important thing is to continue successful partnerships with INTERPOL and other law enforcement partners around the world and create new ones, Cranton said, to make Internet safer and more secure. Microsoft invited Industry leaders and government to take part in the fight against cybercrime and “build edge-to-edge” trust on the Internet.