Digital Forensics in Cyber Security—Recent Trends, Threats, and Opportunities

Abstract

The rapid technological advancement has led the entire world to shift towards digital domain. However, this transition has also result in the emergence of cybercrimes and security breach incidents that threatens the privacy and security of the users. Therefore, this chapter aimed at examining the use of digital forensics in countering cybercrimes, which has been a critical breakthrough in cybersecurity. The chapter has analyzed the most recent trends in digital forensics, which include cloud forensics, social media forensics, and IoT forensics. These technologies are helping the cybersecurity professionals to use the digital traces left by the data storage and processing to keep data safe, while identifying the cybercriminals. However, the research has also observed specific threats to digital forensics, which include technical, operational and personnel-related challenges. The high complexity of these systems, large volume of data, chain of custody, the integrity of personnel, and the validity and accuracy of digital forensics are major threats to its large-scale use. Nevertheless, the chapter has also observed the use of USB forensics, intrusion detection and artificial intelligence as major opportunities for digital forensics that can make the processes easier, efficient, and safe.

Trends, Challenges and Opportunities of Engaging Digital Forensics for Cybercrime Investigations

“…Likewise, when forensic experts manage a vast amount of data while simultaneously performing forensic investigation, they utilize specialized skills and digital technologies. However, these experts often fail to record their work, which further hampers training and external reviews (Alghamdi, 2021).…”

Improvements in Cybersecurity: Coupling Python for Digital Forensics

“…Depending on the scenario, this requires a variety of tasks. These activities include retrieving and analyzing data from storage devices, including computers, phones, and networks; tracking down cybercriminals; recovering stolen information; tracing computer attacks; and assisting in other computer-related investigations [1,2].…”

“…This alarming increase in cybercrime has become a major concern for cybersecurity professionals. Digital forensics has emerged as a valuable tool for investigating cyberattacks, enabling effective examination and analysis of digital evidence [1,3].…”

Deployment of the Fed4FIRE+ testbed for forensics visualization purposes

“…Handling cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities can be particularly inefficient and time-consuming due to budget restrictions and a lack of security expert personnel [1]. At the same time security data is rapidly growing, leaving organizations overwhelmed by the scaling needs for collecting, storing and analysing digital evidence while maintaining the security and integrity of data [2]. This results in severe consequences, legal and/or business value related, for organizations being hit by a security incident.…”

“…As the field of digital evidence is constantly growing [9], the security forensics tools which are available on the market cover different perspectives of digital forensics. Some of them are quite specific, like the CapAnalysis tool 1 used for network forensics, while others include a large set of tools, like the CAINE 2 and the EnCase platforms 3 .…”