Cyber forensics, also known as digital or computer forensics, is the process of collecting, preserving, analysing, and presenting digital evidence for legal or investigative purposes, encompassing various devices and data sources.

Critical evidence for cybercrimes is frequently found in electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. It is critical to collect digital evidence to combat cybercrime and bring justice. Here’s where cyber forensics comes in. Cyber forensics is a key cybersecurity field that deals with the detection, preservation, analysis, and presentation of digital evidence.

Cyber forensics is important for ensuring legal compliance and enforcing auditing procedures to protect information integrity. It also plays an important part in coordinating a series of actions that may lead to illegal behaviour.

How does Cyber Forensics work?

Cyber forensics necessitates techniques that go well beyond typical data collection procedures. That is because necessary information in a legal setting may not be readily available. How is it different? To integrate accessible data insights with the relevant user and their behaviours, it is necessary to recover and reproduce, authenticate and verify, and analyse.

While the underlying data records may be available, InfoSec specialists may need additional access authorisation, such as directives from senior executives, external auditors, or court subpoenas, to extract insights into a structured investigation report.

Phases of Cyber Forensics:-

1. Identification. Determining which evidence is required for the purpose.
2. Preservation. Deciding how to maintain the integrity and security of extracted evidence.
3. Analysis. Understanding the insights the information does (and does not) provide.
4. Documentation. Creating and recovering data to describe the sequence of actions.
5. Presentation. Offering a structured overview of the extracted insights that lead to a conclusion.

Limitations of Cyber Forensics:-

Cyber forensics professionals gather data from a wide range of sources, including any technology that an end user may utilise. These include mobile devices, cloud computing services, IT networks, and software applications.

These technologies are developed and operated by various suppliers. Technology restrictions and privacy measures tend to limit the investigative capabilities of an individual InfoSec specialist, since they confront the following challenges:

1. Data Recovery:- If the data is encrypted, the investigator will be unable to decrypt it without access to the encryption keys. New storage technologies, such as SSD devices, may not provide rapid manufacturer access to retrieve lost data, as traditional magnetic tape and hard disc drive systems provide.
2. Limitations in access:- Investigators may only have access to metadata, not the file’s information substance. The underlying resources can be shared and allocated dynamically. Due to a lack of access to physical storage systems, third-party investigators may be unable to recover lost data.
3. Piling of network data:- Network log data is increasing fast, necessitating advanced analytics and AI solutions to connect the dots and discover relevant links between networking activity.
4. Difficulty in accessing while in different location:- If the data is held in a separate geographic area, cyber forensics investigators may lack the legal right to obtain the necessary information.