We're making a list and we're checking it twice, gonna find out what makes digital forensic examiners suffice

Abstract

Digital forensic examinations have grown in breadth and depth at a currently unsustainable rate. Digital Investigations now feature in around 90% of criminal cases, demonstrating that digital evidence is crucial to forensic investigations. Due to the high number of cases, most law enforcement units have significant backlogs of devices waiting for analysis. As the field of Digital Investigation has grown, it is no longer solely related to criminal investigations, with the techniques also supporting civil, private, and corporate activities. Given the evident challenges, it is logical that more digital forensic experts are needed to keep pace with the field's complexities and demands. Identifying what characteristics and skills make a digital forensic expert enables an evaluation to ensure that any new staff are fit for purpose. There is a growth in academic, civil, corporate, and intelligence‐based activity within the field. Each area defines their standards, field scope, and expertise level. Still, as any case has the potential to become a matter of criminal investigation, surely the focus needs to be on the standards required to ensure evidence is admissible for that purpose. As expertise levels can vary, it is also necessary to challenge the level at which an expert is defined and the implications of this decision. By identifying what makes an expert in this unique forensic science area, it is possible to explore the potential challenges the field faces in obtaining, retaining, and training staff.This article is categorized under: Digital and Multimedia Science > Cybercrime Investigation

The Design and Development of Hands-on Activities for Digital Forensics Education

“…digital forensics) emerged as a branch of forensic science in early 1980s when the practitioners of law enforcement recognized the need to examine electronic data for identifying relevant digital evidence from a computer that was confiscated at a criminal scene [1]- [4]. With the growing use of the Internet and electronic devices, digital forensic investigations play an important role in most investigations of criminal and civil cases [5]- [7], the management of information technology (IT) systems to understand the 5-W and one H questions after an incident [8]- [12], and several other disciplines [6], [13].…”

The long journey of resistance toward acceptance: Understanding digital forensic accreditation in England and Wales from a social science perspective

“…DF is now routinely used by law enforcement: in England and Wales, for instance, 90% of criminal investigations carry a digital element (National Police Chiefs Council—NPCC, 2020), making DF the most commonly used forensic discipline, with demand increasing by 229% between 2017 and 2020 (Transforming Forensics Business Case Digital, 2019, p. 21). DF is also relevant to activities, organizations and industries beyond policing, prompting some commentators to suggest that the term DFIR (DF incident response) may convey more comprehensively the breadth of the field, and the “broader use and interpretation of a traditional digital forensic skillset” (Morris et al, 2023, p. 3).…”