Digital Forensics Challenges in Cyberspace: Overcoming Legitimacy and Privacy Issues Through Modularisation

Abstract

The significance of the cloud environment is growing in the current digital world. It provides several advantages, such as reduced expenses, the ability to adjust to different needs, adaptability and enhanced cooperation. The field of digital forensic investigations has encountered substantial difficulties in reconciling the requirement for efficient data analysis with the increasing apprehensions regarding privacy in recent times. As investigators analyse digital evidence to unearth crucial information, they must also traverse an intricate network of privacy rules and regulations. Given the increasing prevalence of remote work and the necessity for businesses to be adaptable and quick to react to shifting market circumstances, the cloud infrastructure has become a crucial asset for organisations of various scales. Although the cloud offers benefits such as scalability, flexibility and enhanced collaboration, it presents difficulties in digital forensic investigations regarding data protection, ownership and jurisdictional boundaries. These concerns are becoming increasingly significant as more data is kept in the cloud. In this paper, we present three major challenges that are faced during cloud-based forensics investigation. We analyse the extent to which different data formats increase complexity in forensics investigations in cyberspace. This paper analyses three core challenges facing digital forensics in the cloud environment: legitimacy, complexity and an increase in data volume, looking at the implications these have on data liable for legal issues in court. These challenges contribute to the backlog in digital forensics investigations due to a lack of modularisation of the procedures. To address these concerns, modularisation model is proposed to offer a way to integrate traditional processing functions while ensuring strict adherence to privacy protocols. To overcome these challenges, we propose modularisation as a strategy for improving the future of digital forensic research's operational efficiency, overcoming the identified challenges faced during cloud-based investigations and demonstrating how organisations can mitigate potential risks associated with storing sensitive information in the cloud.