A comparative study of teaching forensics at a university degree level

Computer forensics is a relatively young University discipline which has developed strongly in the United States and the United Kingdom but is still in its infancy in continental Europe. The national programmes and courses offered therefore differ in many ways. We report on two recently established degree programmes from two European countries: Great Britain and Germany. We present and compare the design of both programmes and conclude that they cover two complementary and orthogonal aspects of computer forensics education: (a) rigorous practical skills and (b) competence for fundamental research discoveries

Cyber security investigation for Raspberry Pi devices

Big Data on Cloud application is growing rapidly. When the cloud is attacked, the investigation relies on digital forensics evidence. This paper proposed the data collection via Raspberry Pi devices, in a healthcare situation. The significance of this work is that could be expanded into a digital device array that takes big data security issues into account. There are many potential impacts in health area. The field of Digital Forensics Science has been tagged as a reactive science by some who believe research and study in the field often arise as a result of the need to respond to event which brought about the needs for investigation; this work was carried as a proactive research that will add knowledge to the field of Digital Forensic Science. The Raspberry Pi is a cost-effective, pocket sized computer that has gained global recognition since its development in 2008; with the wide spread usage of the device for different computing purposes. Raspberry Pi can potentially be a cyber security device, which can relate with forensics investigation in the near future. This work has used a systematic approach to study the structure and operation of the device and has established security issues that the widespread usage of the device can pose, such as health or smart city. Furthermore, its evidential information applied in security will be useful in the event that the device becomes a subject of digital forensic investigation in the foreseeable future. In healthcare system, PII (personal identifiable information) is a very important issue. When Raspberry Pi plays a processor role, its security is vital; consequently, digital forensics investigation on the Raspberry Pies becomes necessary

Incident Analysis & Digital Forensics in SCADA and Industrial Control Systems

SCADA and industrial control systems have been traditionally isolated in physically protected environments. However, developments such as standardisation of data exchange protocols and increased use of IP, emerging wireless sensor networks and machine-to-machine communication mean that in the near future related threat vectors will require consideration too outside the scope of traditional SCADA security and incident response. In the light of the significance of SCADA for the resilience of critical infrastructures and the related targeted incidents against them (e.g. the development of stuxnet), cyber security and digital forensics emerge as priority areas. In this paper we focus on the latter, exploring the current capability of SCADA operators to analyse security incidents and develop situational awareness based on a robust digital evidence perspective. We look at the logging capabilities of a typical SCADA architecture and the analytical techniques and investigative tools that may help develop forensic readiness to the level of the current threat environment requirements. We also provide recommendations for data capture and retention

Data reduction and data mining framework for digital forensic evidence: storage, intelligence, review and archive

With the volume of digital forensic evidence rapidly increasing, this paper proposes a data reduction and data mining framework that incorporates a process of reducing data volume by focusing on a subset of information. Foreword The volume of digital forensic evidence is rapidly increasing, leading to large backlogs. In this paper, a Digital Forensic Data Reduction and Data Mining Framework is proposed. Initial research with sample data from South Australia Police Electronic Crime Section and Digital Corpora Forensic Images using the proposed framework resulted in significant reduction in the storage requirements—the reduced subset is only 0.196 percent and 0.75 percent respectively of the original data volume. The framework outlined is not suggested to replace full analysis, but serves to provide a rapid triage, collection, intelligence analysis, review and storage methodology to support the various stages of digital forensic examinations. Agencies that can undertake rapid assessment of seized data can more effectively target specific criminal matters. The framework may also provide a greater potential intelligence gain from analysis of current and historical data in a timely manner, and the ability to undertake research of trends over time

Analysis of adversarial attacks against CNN-based image forgery detectors

With the ubiquitous diffusion of social networks, images are becoming a dominant and powerful communication channel. Not surprisingly, they are also increasingly subject to manipulations aimed at distorting information and spreading fake news. In recent years, the scientific community has devoted major efforts to contrast this menace, and many image forgery detectors have been proposed. Currently, due to the success of deep learning in many multimedia processing tasks, there is high interest towards CNN-based detectors, and early results are already very promising. Recent studies in computer vision, however, have shown CNNs to be highly vulnerable to adversarial attacks, small perturbations of the input data which drive the network towards erroneous classification. In this paper we analyze the vulnerability of CNN-based image forensics methods to adversarial attacks, considering several detectors and several types of attack, and testing performance on a wide range of common manipulations, both easily and hardly detectable

On the complexity of collaborative cyber crime investigations

This article considers the challenges faced by digital evidence specialists when collaborating with other specialists and agencies in other jurisdictions when investigating cyber crime. The opportunities, operational environment and modus operandi of a cyber criminal are considered, with a view to developing the skills and procedural support that investigators might usefully consider in order to respond more effectively to the investigation of cyber crimes across State boundaries

Assessing and augmenting SCADA cyber security: a survey of techniques

SCADA systems monitor and control critical infrastructures of national importance such as power generation and distribution, water supply, transportation networks, and manufacturing facilities. The pervasiveness, miniaturisations and declining costs of internet connectivity have transformed these systems from strictly isolated to highly interconnected networks. The connectivity provides immense benefits such as reliability, scalability and remote connectivity, but at the same time exposes an otherwise isolated and secure system, to global cyber security threats. This inevitable transformation to highly connected systems thus necessitates effective security safeguards to be in place as any compromise or downtime of SCADA systems can have severe economic, safety and security ramifications. One way to ensure vital asset protection is to adopt a viewpoint similar to an attacker to determine weaknesses and loopholes in defences. Such mind sets help to identify and fix potential breaches before their exploitation. This paper surveys tools and techniques to uncover SCADA system vulnerabilities. A comprehensive review of the selected approaches is provided along with their applicability