Legal Issues Regarding Digital Forensic Examiners Third Party Consent to Search

This paper focuses on Federal law as it relates to consent to search relating to Fourth Amendment privacy in the practice of Digital Forensics. In particular, Digital Examiners should be aware of how decisions in Federal Court may impact their ability to acquire evidence in both civil and criminal settings. Digital Forensics, being a relatively new field, is particularly subject to change as cases and appeals are decided. This paper provides an overview of relevant case law relating to issues in Digital Forensics. More importantly, our research provides Digital Forensic Examiners (DFE), as defined by Lonardo, White, and Rea (2008, 2009), with scenarios that illustrate the various nuances when dealing with the consent to search. From issues of common authority, conflicting consent, apparent authority, and voluntary consent, our research explores court findings and applies them to practical advice and policy formation for DFE

Legal Issues Regarding Digital Forensic Examiners Third Party Consent to Search

This paper focuses on Federal law as it relates to consent to search relating to Fourth Amendment privacy in the practice of Digital Forensics. In particular, Digital Examiners should be aware of how decisions in Federal Court may impact their ability to acquire evidence in both civil and criminal settings. Digital Forensics, being a relatively new field, is particularly subject to change as cases and appeals are decided. This paper provides an overview of relevant case law relating to issues in Digital Forensics. More importantly, our research provides Digital Forensic Examiners (DFE), as defined by Lonardo, White, and Rea (Lonardo, 2008, 2009), with scenarios that illustrate the various nuances when dealing with the consent to search. From issues of common authority, conflicting consent, apparent authority, and voluntary consent, our research explores court findings and applies them to practical advice and policy formation for DFEs.</p

A Platform Independent Investigative Process Model for Smartphones

A properly conducted forensic examination is one of the most fundamental aspects of a digital investigation. Examiners are obligated to obtain the skills necessary to use forensic tools and methodologies and rely on sound judgment when analyzing a digital device. Anytime during this process, the quality of the methods, skills, and expertise of the examiner may be challenged, thus, placing the forensic value of the evidence collected during the process in jeopardy. In order to combat the potential challenges posed as a result of the forensic examination process, the digital forensics community must ensure that suitable protocols are used throughout the analysis process. Currently, there is no standard methodology forensic examiners use to analyze a digital device. Examiners have made use of a model derived from the Digital Forensic Research Workshop in 2001 and the application of ad-hoc techniques has become routine. While these approaches may reveal potential data of evidentiary value when applying them to digital devices, their core purpose specifically involves the analysis of computers. It is not clear how effective these methods have been when examining other digital technologies, in particular Small Scale Digital Devices (SSDDs). Due to these mitigating factors, it is critical to develop standard scientifically sound methodologies in the area of digital forensics that allow us to evaluate various digital technologies while considering their distinctive characteristics. This research addresses these issues by introducing the concept of an extendable forensic process model applicable to smartphones regardless of platform. The model has been developed using the property of invariance to construct a core components list which serves as the foundation of the proposed methodology. This dissertation provides a description of the forensic process, the models currently used, the developed model, and experiments to show its usefulness

An investigation of digital forensic concepts in an international environment: the U.S., South Africa, and Namibia

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013Digital forensic investigations are growing in number not only in the United States but in nations around the world. The activities of multinational corporations and cybercrime cross jurisdictional boundaries on a daily basis. This investigation sets out to perform a qualitative analysis of the requirements needed for acceptance of digital evidence in multiple jurisdictions and the qualifications of digital forensic examiners by focusing on three case studies. The countries chosen are the United States, South Africa and Namibia. The research lays the foundation by examining existing international laws and treaties, and then uses the three case studies to address constitutional issues, civil and criminal law as they pertain to digital evidence. By ascertaining where the similarities and differences lie, a grounded theory approach is used to provide digital forensic examiners, legal staff and investigators a basis that can be used to approach digital cases that come from or must be presented in foreign jurisdictions. As more countries struggle to establish their digital laws regarding investigations, the resulting approach will serve as a guide and reference

The Bring your own device conundrum for organizations and investigators: An examination of the policy and legal concerns in light of investigatory challenges

In recent years, with the expansion of technology and the desire to downsize costs within the corporate culture, the technology trend has steered towards the integration of personally owned mobile devices (i.e. smartphones) within the corporate and enterprise environment. The movement, known as “Bring Your Own Device” (hereinafter referred to as “BYOD”), seeks to minimize or eliminate the need for two separate and distinct mobile devices for one employee. While taken at face value this trend seems favorable, the corporate policy and legal implications of the implementation of BYOD are further complicated by significant investigatory issues that far outweigh the potential benefits of integrating a BYOD policy. In this paper we first set a context for the BYOD conundrum, then examine associated corporate policies, highlight the limitations to the digital investigator’s reach regarding digital evidence and review the investigatory challenges presented to the involved parties (such as the forensic examiner) from a BYOD environment. We conclude by offering recommendations such as implementing finely crafted policies and procedures (such as incident response), utilizing Mobile Device Management and other software, corporate owned devices, and enforcing signed agreements

Mobile Forensics: The Perception of Privacy

Technology companies like Apple pride themselves on protecting its consumers’ data, which they express within their mission statement and by also encrypting their mobile devices. This encryption stalled an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2016, resulting in them taking Apple to court. There has been a lack of information about mobile forensic examiners perceptions on issue they face in the mobile forensic field. The purpose of this research study was to address the perceptions mobile forensic examiners experience when dealing with encryption, privacy, and national security concerns. This qualitative phenomenological study included interviews with 10 mobile forensic examiners (two female and eight male) with at least 1 year of experience on key issues in the mobile forensic field. Results from this study, identified that mobile forensic examiners wanted to work with technology companies on encryption issues, however they did not have a solution on how to begin. Findings from this study can be used to move forward the conversation between the technology companies and mobile forensic examiners, in order to come to an understanding with each other, with a comprise everyone can live with. Future research can gather information on how the technology companies perceive the privacy and encryption concerns, resulting in positive social change

Resource materials on technology-enabled crime

Designed to assist prosecutors and members of the judiciary faced with proceedings involving technology-enabled crime, the report will be a useful general guide to concepts and terms for other non-technical people