Digital data or information stored in electronic devices is related to electronic crime, another term for cybercrime. Any electronic device combined with IoT technology is a potential source of digital evidence that is critical to forensic investigations.
Digital evidence, also known as electronic evidence, provides forensic teams with valuable information/data. Digital evidence is defined as information and data stored, received or transmitted by electronic devices that are valuable to an investigation. What is digital evidence ? Digital evidence or electronic evidence is any evidentiary information stored or transmitted in digital form that can be used by litigants in legal proceedings. In recent decades, as courts have allowed the use of emails, digital photographs, ATM transaction logs, text documents, instant message histories, files saved from accounting programs, tabular calculations, internet browser histories, databases, computers, digital evidence use has expanded. Memory contents, computer backups, computer printouts, GPS tracking, hotel door locks, and digital video or audio files.
The correct handling and use of digital evidence is critical to the law enforcement community. In order to combat electronic crimes and collect digital evidence related to all crimes, law enforcement agencies include the collection and analysis of digital evidence in their infrastructure, also known as computer forensics. With the popularization of digital devices such as computers, mobile phones, and GPS devices, digital evidence analysis is becoming more and more important for investigating and prosecuting multiple types of crimes, because it can reveal information about the whereabouts of crimes, suspects, and criminal associates. information. Therefore, digital data from electronic media and Internet devices is an important part of solving crimes.
In addition, forensic analysts must isolate and archive digital data gathered from evidence to maintain its authenticity and integrity. All evidence must be collected and submitted to some form of process before it is presented in the courtroom. Before a digital device can be presented in court as direct or indirect evidence, it must be notarized (i.e., it must be proven that the evidence is consistent with the stated). In addition, assessing the authenticity of digital evidence also includes examining the processes, methods and tools used to collect, obtain, store and analyze digital evidence to ensure that the data has not been altered in any way.
If the job description means that this is not possible, the impact of the practitioner’s actions on the inputs should be clearly defined and the process that caused any change should be justified. An independent third party should be able to study these processes and achieve the same result. All legal proceedings use robust forensic techniques to ensure that findings are admissible in court.
Digital Forensics helps the forensic team analyze, verify, identify and preserve digital evidence stored on various types of electronic devices. Digital forensics is defined as the process of storing, identifying, retrieving and documenting computer evidence that can be used by a court. It is the science of finding evidence on digital media such as a computer, mobile phone, server, or network. Provides an expert group with the best techniques and tools to tackle complex digital cases.
The main purpose of digital forensics is to extract data from electronic evidence, process it into actionable information, and present the results to prosecutions. Here, the role of digital forensics in identifying and preserving evidence collected by a digital device during a criminal investigation is critical. Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science that deals with the identification, collection, processing, analysis and reporting of electronically stored data. Computer forensics is the science of collecting, storing, retrieving and presenting data that has been processed electronically and stored on computer storage media.
Computer Forensics Computer forensics was created to meet the specific and articulated needs of law enforcement in order to make the most of this new form of electronic evidence. Electronic evidence, also commonly known as digital evidence, is data stored in electronic devices or systems that can be retrieved by forensic experts and used as admissible evidence in court. Digital evidence can be found on any server or device that stores data, including some lesser known sources such as home game consoles, GPS sports watches, and internet-enabled devices used in home automation.
While information may overlap with sources on the Internet, computers provide many unique and remarkable pieces of evidence, including timestamps, IP addresses, VPN information, and MAC addresses. This includes information from smartphones, tablets and other portable devices or gadgets. This includes information from computers, hard drives, mobile phones, and other storage devices.
This includes emails, text messages, instant messages, files and documents retrieved from hard drives, electronic financial transactions, audio files, video files. Evidence obtained from the Internet includes information obtained from communication on websites, email, message boards, chat rooms, file sharing networks, and intercepted messages. Data can be obtained and used for intelligence purposes (for more information see UNODC (2011), Guide to Criminal Intelligence for Analysts) and / or it can be presented as digital evidence in court. Computers are a repository of information with evidence obtained using special extraction methods.
Using data collected from electronic devices, digital forensics investigators can prevent hackers and other cybercriminals from infiltrating an organization’s digital infrastructure. For example, they can trace the source of a hacking attack, discover valuable evidence to provide information about criminals, and work with law enforcement to uncover crimes committed. Companies that hire digital forensics experts will have first-hand information about their electronic data and how that information will be interpreted in court or by investigators.
Further, after creating the forensic image of the electronic media for forensic analysis, it is important to analyze the evidence to obtain important information. The challenge in computer forensics is to develop methods and techniques that provide reliable and reliable results while protecting real evidence – information – from harm. However, computer forensics, unlike some of its traditional counterparts, cannot rely on obtaining the same evidence in every request.
The range of extraction methods that may be required to obtain digital evidence from different sources or types of devices (including those belonging to both suspects and victims) means that their collection and use is indeed a multifaceted problem, potentially requiring the creation and maintenance of a variety of very different technical skills and competencies. You may need to overcome additional obstacles even after extracting data from the device. This can range from the inexperience of patrol officers and investigators in storing and collecting digital evidence to judicial officials’ ignorance of the nature of digital evidence. In a digital investigation, this can cause problems when, for example, in the investigation of another crime, evidence of other crimes is revealed.
Although the charges against the suspect were eventually dropped, the case taught us a lesson that data collected by new digital technologies will inevitably be presented as evidence in court (Maras and Wandt, 2018). If the tools used for digital forensics do not meet certain standards, evidence can be dismissed in court