Crowdsourcing forensics: Creating a curated catalog of digital forensic artifacts

Area of Science:

• Digital Forensics
• Computer Science
• Information Science

Background:

• Digital evidence presents challenges due to its volume, variety, and complexity.
• Current ad hoc methods lead to unstructured, incomplete, and misinterpreted digital forensic findings.
• A systematic approach is needed to codify and combine practitioner knowledge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and develop a solution for cataloging crowdsourced knowledge of digital forensic artifacts.
• To improve the efficiency and reliability of digital forensic investigations.
• To support automated extraction and interpretation of pertinent digital evidence.

Main Methods:

• Development of a system to catalog crowdsourced knowledge of digital forensic artifacts.
• Implementation of a well-structured, easily searchable knowledge base.
• Curation of artifact data with illustrative examples.

Main Results:

• A functional system for managing digital forensic knowledge has been designed and developed.
• The system facilitates efficient and automated extraction of relevant information.
• Improved availability and reliability in the interpretation of digital forensic artifacts.

Conclusions:

• The developed solution addresses the need for a systematic mechanism in digital forensics.
• Crowdsourced knowledge cataloging enhances the effectiveness of digital forensic practitioners.
• Recommendations for future work include further technical implementation and artifact curation.