From the Editor-in-Chief

We are proud to share with you this special edition issue of the JDFSL. This year, JDFSL partnered with both the 6th International Conference on Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime (ICDF2C) and Systematic Approaches to Digital Forensic Engineering (SADFE)–two prominent conferences in our field that were co-hosted. Fifty-three papers were submitted, and the Technical Program Committee accepted only 17 after a rigorous review process

Portable Web Browser Forensics: A Forensic Examination of the Privacy Benefits of Portable Web Browsers

Portable web browsers are installed on removable storage devices which can be taken by a user from computer to computer. One of the claimed benefits of portable web browsers is enhanced privacy, through minimization of the traces of browsing activity left on the host\u27s hard disk. On the basis of this claim, it would appear that portable web browsers pose a challenge to forensic examiners trying to reconstruct past web browsing activity in the context of a digital investigation. The research examines one popular portable web browser, Google Chrome in both normal and private browsing mode, and compares the forensic traces of its use to forensic traces of the installed version of the same browser. The results show that Google Chrome Portable leaves traces of web browsing activity on the host computer\u27s hard disk, and demonstrate a need for forensic testing of the privacy claims made for the use of portable web browsers