Introduction
Digital evidence is becoming increasingly important with the advent of new electronic and cloud media. Many companies already have the means to manage physical and digital evidence separately. Co-management tools need to be created to ensure a single and accessible evidence base. Collecting, preserving, storing and analyzing digital evidence requires special skills. In addition, there are legal issues that regulate this process in order to achieve maximum security and data protection and provide services with quick access to them.
Proper Procedure
The fundamental principle of the correct work with electronic evidences is that it is necessary not only to save them. A proper work cycle includes the stages of identification, collection, acquisition, preservation and analysis (Reedy, 2020). Information must be correctly collected before the start of work with digital devices. One of the most important points is the correct extraction of information from the identified device, which depends on its type. Depending on the state of the device and the type of data, forensic imaging can be applied to minimize manipulation of the original copy (Ferreira et al., 2021). Once data is received, it must be stored until it is needed for further investigation. Preservation is best done in intelligent systems that can be integrated with evidence management. Finally, the collected data must be examined and evaluated to reconstruct the incident of interest. Data turns into evidence at the moment of analysis and reconstruction.
There are several important points that a specialist needs to take into account when collecting, maintaining and storing digital evidence. During the identification phase, documenting the state of the media can be overlooked. A specialist must take a picture of the device, fix its physical condition and location. With further analysis of the situation, it is necessary to track this information in the evidence management system. It is necessary to have a clear chain, to document the transfer of digital evidence between each person who comes into contact with them. During identification and evidence collection, the device should keep the current power state as long as possible. It is necessary to provide a proper chain of custody for equipment and data with reliable physical protection. Inadequate preservation may reduce the value of the evidence in the later process.
Legal Challenges
Digital evidence is usually relevantly used in most legal cases. Public authorities have powerful legal measures that regulate the collection, analysis and evaluation of evidence, but do not always have clarifications regarding digital forms (Losavio et al., 2018). The main difficulty is that traditional rules may not apply to digital evidence. In addition, failure to organize the collection and storage of digital evidence properly can lead to fines, violations of the judicial process and adverse outcomes of litigation. A new model of legal regulation of the process of working with digital evidence is needed to ensure legality and efficiency.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that digital evidence is used in many processes, its collection, storage and analysis are not always properly organized. Working with digital evidence begins at the moment of analyzing a digital source and ends with their provision in a lawsuit. In order for the work to be ensured correctly, it is necessary to be guided by the rules of confidentiality, control over the chain and fixing all stages of work in an electronic database. At the moment, traditional regulation is applied to digital evidence, which does not always correspond to the specifics of this data.
References
Ferreira, S., Antunes, M., & Correia, M. E. (2021). Exposing Manipulated Photos and Videos in Digital Forensics Analysis. Journal of Imaging, 7(7), 102-117. Web.
Losavio, M. M., Chow, K. P., Koltay, A., & James, J. (2018). The Internet of Things and the Smart City: Legal challenges with digital forensics, privacy, and security. Security and Privacy, 1(3), 23-40. Web.
Reedy, P. (2020). Strategic Leadership in Digital Evidence: What Executives Need to Know. Elsevier Science.