Retrieving and Identifying Remnants of Artefacts on Local Devices Using Sync.com Cloud

Area of Science:

• Digital Forensics
• Cybersecurity
• Computer Science

Background:

• Cloud forensics faces challenges due to diverse service providers with unique rules.
• Investigating cloud environments requires effective methods for artifact recovery.
• Current research focuses on overcoming these hurdles in digital investigations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel investigation technique for identifying and locating data remnants in cloud storage.
• To mitigate the difficulties in locating artifacts and reduce the time for evidence identification.
• To enhance the efficiency of cloud forensic investigations.

Main Methods:

• A two-stage investigation technique: artifact collection and evidence identification.
• Artifact collection stage determines and gathers data remnants from cloud storage.
• Evidence identification stage analyzes collected artifacts for relevance to cybercrime.

Main Results:

• The proposed technique was implemented and tested on Sync.com cloud storage.
• A forensics investigation algorithm was applied using the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system.
• The integrated process demonstrated effectiveness in locating artifacts and identifying evidence.

Conclusions:

• The developed cloud forensics technique successfully addresses challenges in artifact identification and recovery.
• The two-stage approach streamlines the investigation process, saving time and effort.
• This research contributes a practical solution for digital forensic investigations in cloud environments.