Digital Forensics Readiness for the Internet of Things

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming an integral part of daily life, transforming both personal and business practices. From a Digital Forensics (DF) perspective, IoT environments offer valuable evidence and diverse artifacts that can significantly assist in- vestigations. Therefore, DF must adapt to the unique characteristics of IoT environments. As IoT deployment increases, organizations must rethink their planning, development, and implementation of Information Technology (IT) security strategies. While the IoT opens new business opportunities, it also introduces various challenges related to cyber- attacks and their mitigation. In this regard, Forensics Readiness (FR) can help balance the cost of investigating future incidents by preparing for them. To research Internet of Things Forensics Readiness (IoT-FR) from a holistic perspective, it is essential to consider the human aspect (e.g., include investigators and non-experts), the process aspect (e.g., enable structured integration), and the technical aspect (e.g., consider IoT conditions). Thus, the threefold dissertation first explores how awareness and education can support DF within IoT environments, indicating a shift towards applying gamification elements and serious games. Secondly, this research work highlights the importance of processes that help to structure DF investigations in IoT to enable FR in the first place by extracting influencing factors and helping investigators in tool decision and application. Thirdly, the dissertation explores the IoTs unique technical circumstances that require novel and updated DF approaches and shows the potential of utilizing technological developments to support the technical investigation. The research progress in IoT-FR lays a robust foundation for integrating and realizing FR in IoT environments in the future. This enables, at the same time, the design of secure systems through new insights gained from sustainable and comprehensive Internet of Things Forensics (IoTF) investigations