Digital forensic research: current state of the art

TLDR

Digital forensics applies scientific methods to analyze electronic data and reconstruct events, and recent technological advances have expanded its tools and techniques while also presenting new challenges. The authors review literature from 2000 onward, categorizing developments into four major areas. Within each area, research is further divided into conceptual and practical advancements. The review identifies key observations from prior work and outlines future research directions.

Abstract

Digital forensics is the process of employing scientific principles and processes to analyze electronically stored information and determine the sequence of events which led to a particular incident. In this digital age, it is important for researchers to become aware of the recent developments in this dynamic field and understand scope for the future. The past decade has witnessed significant technological advancements to aid during a digital investigation. Many methodologies, tools and techniques have found their way into the field designed on forensic principles. Digital forensics has also witnessed many innovative approaches that have been explored to acquire and analyze digital evidence from diverse sources. In this paper, we review the research literature since 2000 and categorize developments in the field into four major categories. In recent years the exponential growth of technological has also brought with it some serious challenges for digital forensic research which is elucidated. Within each category, research is sub-classified into conceptual and practical advancements. We highlight the observations made by previous researchers and summarize the research directions for the future.