automated production of predetermined digital evidence

Digital evidence is increasingly used in juridical proceedings. In some recent legal cases, the verdict has been strongly influenced by the digital evidence proffered by the defense. Digital traces can be left on computers, phones, digital cameras, and also on remote machines belonging to ISPs, telephone providers, companies that provide services via Internet such as YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, and so on. This paper presents a methodology for the automated production of predetermined digital evidence, which can be leveraged to forge a digital alibi. It is based on the use of an automation, a program meant to simulate any common user activity. In addition to wanted traces, the automation may produce a number of unwanted traces, which may be disclosed upon a digital forensic analysis. These include data remanence of suspicious files, as well as any kind of logs generated by the operating system modules and services. The proposed methodology describes a process to design, implement, and execute the automation on a target system, and to properly handle both wanted and unwanted evidence. Many experiments with different combinations of automation tools and operating systems are conducted. This paper presents an implementation of the methodology through VBScript on Windows 7. A forensic analysis on the target system is not sufficient to reveal that the alibi is forged by automation. These considerations emphasize the difference between digital and traditional evidence. Digital evidence is always circumstantial, and therefore it should be considered relevant only if supported by stronger evidence collected through traditional investigation techniques. Thus, a Court verdict should not be based solely on digital evidence

On the evolution of digital evidence: novel approaches for cyber investigation

2012-2013Nowadays Internet is the fulcrum of our world, and the World Wide Web is the key to access it. We develop relationships on social networks and entrust sensitive documents to online services. Desktop applications are being replaced by fully-fledged web-applications that can be accessed from any devices. This is possible thanks to new web technologies that are being introduced at a very fast pace. However, these advances come at a price. Today, the web is the principal means used by cyber-criminals to perform attacks against people and organizations. In a context where information is extremely dynamic and volatile, the fight against cyber-crime is becoming more and more difficult. This work is divided in two main parts, both aimed at fueling research against cybercrimes. The first part is more focused on a forensic perspective and exposes serious limitations of current investigation approaches when dealing with modern digital information. In particular, it shows how it is possible to leverage common Internet services in order to forge digital evidence, which can be exploited by a cyber-criminal to claim an alibi. Hereinafter, a novel technique to track cyber-criminal activities on the Internet is proposed, aimed at the acquisition and analysis of information from highly dynamic services such as online social networks. The second part is more concerned about the investigation of criminal activities on the web. Aiming at raising awareness for upcoming threats, novel techniques for the obfuscation of web-based attacks are presented. These attacks leverage the same cuttingedge technology used nowadays to build pleasant and fully-featured web applications. Finally, a comprehensive study of today’s top menaces on the web, namely exploit kits, is presented. The result of this study has been the design of new techniques and tools that can be employed by modern honeyclients to better identify and analyze these menaces in the wild. [edited by author]XII n.s

Automated Production of Predetermined Digital Evidence

Digital evidence is increasingly used in juridical proceedings. In some recent legal cases, the verdict has been strongly influenced by the digital evidence proffered by the defense. Digital traces can be left on computers, phones, digital cameras, and also on remote machines belonging to ISPs, telephone providers, companies that provide services via Internet such as YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, and so on. This paper presents a methodology for the automated production of predetermined digital evidence, which can be leveraged to forge a digital alibi. It is based on the use of an automation, a program meant to simulate any common user activity. In addition to wanted traces, the automation may produce a number of unwanted traces, which may be disclosed upon a digital forensic analysis. These include data remanence of suspicious files, as well as any kind of logs generated by the operating system modules and services. The proposed methodology describes a process to design, implement, and execute the automation on a target system, and to properly handle both wanted and unwanted evidence. Many experiments with different combinations of automation tools and operating systems are conducted. This paper presents an implementation of the methodology through VBScript on Windows 7. A forensic analysis on the target system is not sufficient to reveal that the alibi is forged by automation. These considerations emphasize the difference between digital and traditional evidence. Digital evidence is always circumstantial, and therefore it should be considered relevant only if supported by stronger evidence collected through traditional investigation techniques. Thus, a Court verdict should not be based solely on digital evidence