Digital Forensics Types & Challenges

Types of Digital Forensics

Three types of digital forensics are:

1. Disk Forensics:-

It deals with extracting data from storage media by searching active, modified, or deleted files.

2. Network Forensics:-

It is a sub-branch of digital forensics. It is related to monitoring and analysis of computer network traffic to collect important information and legal evidence.

3. Wireless Forensics:-

It is a division of network forensics. The main aim of wireless forensics is to offers the tools need to collect and analyze the data from wireless network traffic.

4. Database Forensics:-

It is a branch of digital forensics relating to the study and examination of databases and their related metadata.

5. Malware Forensics:-

This branch deals with the identification of malicious code, to study their payload, viruses, worms, etc.

6. Email Forensics:-

Deals with recovery and analysis of emails, including deleted emails, calendars, and contacts.

7. Memory Forensics:-

It deals with collecting data from system memory (system registers, cache, RAM) in raw form and then carving the data from Raw dump.

8. Mobile Phone Forensics:-

It mainly deals with the examination and analysis of mobile devices. It helps to retrieve phone and SIM contacts, call logs, incoming, and outgoing SMS/MMS, Audio, videos, etc.

Challenges faced by Digital Forensics

Here, are major challenges faced by the Digital Forensic:

• The increase of PC’s and extensive use of internet access
• Easy availability of hacking tools
• Lack of physical evidence makes prosecution difficult.
• The large amount of storage space into Terabytes that makes this investigation job difficult.
• Any technological changes require an upgrade or changes to solutions.

Advantages of Digital forensics

Here, are pros/benefits of Digital forensics

• To ensure the integrity of the computer system.
• To produce evidence in the court, which can lead to the punishment of the culprit.
• It helps the companies to capture important information if their computer systems or networks are compromised.
• Efficiently tracks down cybercriminals from anywhere in the world.
• Helps to protect the organization’s money and valuable time.
• Allows to extract, process, and interpret the factual evidence, so it proves the cybercriminal action’s in the court.

Disadvantages of Digital Forensics

Here, are major cos/ drawbacks of using Digital Forensic

• Digital evidence accepted into court. However, it is must be proved that there is no tampering
• Producing electronic records and storing them is an extremely costly affair
• Legal practitioners must have extensive computer knowledge
• Need to produce authentic and convincing evidence
• If the tool used for digital forensic is not according to specified standards, then in the court of law, the evidence can be disapproved by justice.
• Lack of technical knowledge by the investigating officer might not offer the desired result