Challenges Of Digital Forensic

Digital forensics is a branch that is over the recovery and investigation of materials found in digital devices, it gives a better understanding of the situation. Back before the computers, researchers used to investigate the situation through eyewitnesses, evidences, and trying to recreate what happened in that area. Digital devices are everywhere this day and age. “Computers and networks have become so ubiquitous in our society, such an integral part of our daily lives, that any investigation or legal dispute will likely involve some form of digital evidence.” Casey, 2009 Introduction. Through electronics, it can store the needed evidence to be used in the future.

A big problem with digital evidence is, that the suspects can hide the evidence on any location on the Hard Drive. That means a judge, a police office or a forensic analyst can impossible predict where exactly the evidence is located on the Hard Drive. That implies, that the forensic analyst have to search through the entire Hard Drive to find the evidence

A vast majority of citizens in this country are not aware of their rights as it pertains to their electronic devices. By following the practices of digital forensics and the laws set fourth to govern electronic devices. The justice system will become more clear to the average citizen.

Digital crime has been on the increase due to the increasing use of computer and internet. This has led the investigators with another method of fighting this crime. This is Computer Forensics, a process of going into computer hard drive and capturing basic information the user believed it has been erased.

Data is crucial to the success of any company and they are now increasing their efforts in soliciting and retrieving customer data to learn more about their client's preferences, likes, and dislikes. This, among other factors has attributed to a growing field of data science where data scientists learn to collect crucial data. While there are many types of data, this paper will primarily focus on digital data and how digital scientists can retrieve these data to support provide information for the crown or for the defense. This area has received more attention because criminals such as terrorists have realized the effectiveness of using digital devices to aid in their criminal endeavors (Reith, Carr & Gunsch, 2002, p.2). To combat this, law enforcement agencies are now relying on digital scientists to preserve, collect, analysis and interpret "digital evidence derived from digital sources" (Vincze, 2016, p.184) to help prevent cybercrime and prosecute (or exonerate) suspects. The purpose of this paper is then to illustrate why digital forensic is crucial to addressing the new dangers presented in our society by analyzing the strengths and demonstrating why the weaknesses of the field

The third and a crucial weakness is the lack of education in digital science. Reports and research consistently indicate that there is a lack of "education, training and certification" (Roger & Seigfried, 2004, p.14) and because there is no uniform certification, there is no gold standard that many other forensic sciences possess (Roger & Seigfried, 2004, p.15). To clarify, the reports do indicate that there exist certification boards for this field, but the problem with these certification boards is that there are specific to a "particular operating system" (Roger & Seigfried, 2004, p.15), meaning a certification for a board may mean something completely different to another. This is worrisome as with no universally accepted standards, it makes it hard for judges and juries to effectively judge the competency of any expert (Vincze, 2016, p.186). Furthermore, there is a proliferation of digital forensic classes as a consequence of the media exposure

Supportive investigation procedures and protocols should be in place in order to show that the incriminating evidence was on the electronic media. Crime has changed since the dawning of the computer age and the need for digital forensics is growing rapidly. Digital forensics has various areas based on different standards and media types, each with experts. There have been major breakthroughs in digital forensics

Digital forensics has been responsible for putting away thousands and thousands of criminals. Ranging from simple crime computer crimes to child pornography. To get quality evidence that can be admissible in court there are steps that are needed in preparing a computer investigation. There are also requirements for data recovery, as well as procedures for corporate investigations. “Digital forensics has become prevalent because law enforcement recognizes that modern day life includes a variety of digital devices that can be exploited for criminal activity, not just computer systems. While computer forensics tends to focus on specific methods for extracting evidence from a particular platform, digital forensics must be modeled such that it can encompass all types of digital devices, including future digital technologies” (Reith, Carr, and Gunsch, 2002).

Since the introduction of computer and technology, they have become the new weapon in committing crime, and to the burgeoning science of digital evidence, law enforcement now use computers to fight crime. Nevertheless, digital evidence is information stored, transmitted, and received in binary form that can potentially be relied on as evidence in court. Notwithstanding, digital evidence is commonly associated with crimes that involve such devices, such as a computer hard drives, external storage devices, mobile phones, among others, and are often referred to as e-crimes. However, to fight e-crime, law enforcement must collect relevant digital evidence for such crimes, law enforcement agencies are incorporating the collection and analysis of digital evidence, also referred to as computer forensics, into many of their infrastructures.

Digital forensics is almost like observing someone’s complete psyche, you see that person likes and dislike. You are viewing their hates and love; you are finding things they don’t want to share with anyone else in the entire world. Using digital forensics is extremely perplexing with the obligation of interpreting the digital forensics that are located in an investigation.

Processing a crime scene is no easy task. Individuals who are trained to process and analyze these crime scenes cannot just walk into area of interest and commence handling items and taking items of possible implications of the situation. This holds true for a digital forensics investigator as well. Digital forensics investigators are looking for any possible digital evidence within the crime scene, but it’s not as simple as just finding a computer and taking it to the lab. “Digital evidence is information stored or transmitted in binary form that may be relied on in court. It can be found on a computer hard drive, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a CD, and a flash card in a digital camera, among other places” (Digital Evidence and Forensics, 2016). Identifying, preparing for the search, seizing the evidence, documentation, and chain of custody are all critical pieces of ensuring digital evidence is admissible in court.

Forensic tools are essential requirements of forensic research and investigation in order to prove integrity of data and validate the result to be correct and lawful. Law enforcement cannot only rely on forensic tools to make a verdict, thus these forensic tools need to be validated in order to minimize errors and avoid wrong decisions that can result into serious consequences. As the field of digital forensics is growing in a rapid pace, there are numerous forensic tools made in order to cope with the demand. There are many concerns associated with forensic tools. First of all, these tools need to meet the standards required by the forensic tools validation association such as NIST in order to make the tool a valid source to

Every form of digital evidence has a different degree of permanence that requires investigators to gather the evidence in a timely manner.

In a world where technology is increasingly becoming the way of life, it was only a matter of time before crime was no longer just in the streets but happening online as well. Criminals now get a new approach to carry out their crimes with the use of computers. Since technology is more like a murder mystery than catching the bad guy in the act, a new discipline of forensics needed to be put into place. This is known as computer forensics. Forensic science is any science used for the purpose of law. In the case of computer forensics it is “the discipline that combines elements of law and computer science to collect and analyze data from computer systems, networks, wireless communications, and storage devices in a way that is admissible as evidence in a court of law” (U.S. Cert, 2008). Meaning if you do something illegal on the Internet it can be found.

Computer forensics is the practice of accessing sensitive data from technology to utilize within private and criminal investigations. Experienced computer forensics workers work with police to verify and validate evidence for court cases. This part of the investigation must always be done with care and in a precise and professional manner as the evidence must be admissible and useful in the court of law. In this scenario I would follow the below procedures for the investigation and compilation of information.