Log Data as Digital Evidence: What Secure Logging Protocols Have to Offer?

Abstract

While log data are being increasingly used as digital evidence in judicial disputes, the extent to which existing secure logging protocols used to collect log data fulfill the legal requirements for admissible evidence remain largely unclear. We elucidate the necessary secure requirements for digital evidence and extensively survey the state of the art secure logging protocols,thereby demonstrating that none of the current proposals fulfills the necessary conditions for admissible evidence.