Cloud Computing Pros and Cons for Computer Forensic Investigations 3 (original) (raw)

Impact of Cloud Computing on Digital Forensic Investigations

2013

As cloud computing gains a firm foothold as an information technology (IT) business solution, an increasing number of enterprises are considering it as a possible migration route for their IT infrastructures and business operations. The centralization of data in the cloud has not gone unnoticed by criminal elements and, as such, data centers and cloud providers have become targets for attack. Traditional digital forensic methodologies are not well suited to cloud computing environments because of the use of remote storage and virtualization technologies. The task of imaging potential evidence is further complicated by evolving cloud environments and services such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). The implementation of forensics as a service (FaaS) appears to be the only workable solution, but until standards are formulated and implemented by service providers, the only option will be to use traditional forensic tool...

Cloud Technology and the Challenges for Forensics Investigators

DEStech Transactions on Computer Science and Engineering, 2017

Cloud computing is an recent technology offers a cheap and almost limitless computing power and storage space for data which can be leveraged to commit either new or old crimes and host related traces. This paper aims to review and discuss the challenges for digital forensics in cloud that we cannot seize the physical hardware which runs various applications in cloud. Cloud forensics is difficult. because there are challenges with multi-tenant hosting, synchronization problems and techniques for segregating the data in the logs. Cloud forensic is the process of identifying, preserving, analyzing and presenting digital evidence in a manner that is legally acceptable. The complexity of forensics and investigations in a cloud environment is broadly related to the various challenges which are discussed in the paper. We came to know that the main challenge in cloud forensic is of data acquisition. It is important to know exactly where the data is located and actually acquiring it. If Cloud Service Providers practice to preserve volatile data, the loss of important artifacts, which could be potentially crucial evidence, can be made avoided.

Digital Forensic Investigation and Cloud Computing

Applications for Investigation Processes, 2013

This chapter aims to be a high-level introduction into the fundamental concepts of both digital forensic investigations and cloud computing for non-experts in one or both areas. Once fundamental concepts are established, this work begins to examine cloud computing security-related questions, specifically how past security challenges are inherited or solved by cloud computing models, as well as new security challenges that are unique to cloud environments. Next, an analysis is given of the challenges and opportunities cloud computing brings to digital forensic investigations. Finally, the Integrated Digital Investigation Process model is used as a guide to illustrate considerations and challenges during an investigation involving cloud environments.

Calm Before the Storm: The Challenges of Cloud Computing in Digital Forensics.

2012

Cloud computing is a rapidly evolving information technology (IT) phenomenon. Rather than procure, deploy and manage a physical IT infrastructure to host their software applications, organizations are increasingly deploying their infrastructure into remote, virtualized environments, often hosted and managed by third parties. This development has significant implications for digital forensic investigators, equipment vendors, law enforcement, as well as corporate compliance and audit departments (among others). Much of digital forensic practice assumes careful control and management of IT assets (particularly data storage) during the conduct of an investigation. This paper summarises the key aspects of cloud computing and analyses how established digital forensic procedures will be invalidated in this new environment. Several new research challenges addressing this changing context are also identified and discussed.

The Challenges of Cloud Computing in Forensic Science

International Journal of Computer Trends & Technology, 2019

Cloud computing (CC) is rapidly growing new information technology (IT) in private, public and especially in Government sectors internationally. CC technology facilitates rather than deploy and manage an in-house physical IT infrastructure by having local servers or personal devices to manage their softwares application. This new technology helps to transfer their traditional IT services model into remote, virtualised environments, which are often hosted and managed by the third parties. Therefore, CC environment of any organisation turn prospective opportunity for cyber attackers, which is become a primary challenges of CC in the protection of valuable data from different types of attacks. CC posed a serious risk and major challenge to digital investigators, also offers sufficient opportunities to investigators for better refining the forensic science. This study summarises the key areas of CC forensics science challenges and analyses by the researched performed by other researchers. The challenges also presented along with associated literature that particularly reference them. Finally the discussion and analysis, which is based on the study finding to consider the challenges provoke by the CC forensics science on our findings.

Cloud Forensics

Advances in Digital Forensics VII, 2011

Cloud computing may well become one of the most transformative technologies in the history of computing. Cloud service providers and customers have yet to establish adequate forensic capabilities that could support investigations of criminal activities in the cloud. This paper discusses the emerging area of cloud forensics, and highlights its challenges and opportunities.

Cloud Computing Architecture and Forensic Investigation Challenges

International Journal of Computer Applications, 2015

Contrasting to traditional digital forensic investigations, investigating cloud crimes is considered as more difficult and complex process. The architecture of cloud computing is behind the complexity of conducting forensic investigation on cloud where data are synchronized and accessed using multiple and different devices in different places that reduce the chance to find a real device to seize for forensics investigation. There are a number of challenges in forensic investigation field faced by investigators which may complicate the way of conducting cloud forensic investigations to extract evidences. This research is studying the complexity of cloud architecture and how it affects digital investigations by addressing a number of challenges on conducting cloud forensic investigation.

Forensics Issues in Cloud Computing

Journal of Computer and Communications, 2016

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that is being widely adopted throughout the world due to its ease-of-use. Organizations of all types can use it without prerequisites such as IT infrastructure, technical skills, managerial overload, storage capacity, processing power, and data recovery or privacy setup. It can be availed by all clients as per their needs, expectations and budget. However, cloud computing introduces new kinds of security vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Traditional "Computer Forensics" deals with detection, preemption and prevention of IT triggered frauds and crimes but it lacks the ability to deal with cybercrimes pertaining to cloud computing environment. In this paper, we focus on forensics issues in cloud computing, assess limitations of forensic team and present the obstacles faced during investigation.

Forensics framework for cloud computing

Computers & Electrical Engineering, 2017

The popularity of cloud computing has been on the rise in recent years, as cloud resources are not only shared by many users but can be allocated on demand. A recent survey reports success of the cyber criminals in using cloud computing technology for fraudulent activities, due to its essential characteristics and the lack of suitable digital forensic techniques for the cloud environment. While mitigating cloud crime, investigators face several challenges and issues dealing with cloud forensics. In this paper, the challenges faced by forensic investigators are highlighted. Most of the research work deals with the identification of challenges in cloud forensics and the proposed solutions reported in literature depends on Cloud Service Provider (CSP) for forensic investigation. The dependence on CSP includes the collection of data for the forensics process and there may be a chance of altering data that affects the entire investigation process. For mitigating the dependency on CSP, a new model for collecting forensic evidence outside the cloud environment is developed.

Critical Retrospection of Security Implication in Cloud Computing and Its Forensic Applications

Security and Communication Networks, 2022

Using cloud computing, businesses can adopt IT without incurring a significant upfront cost. e Internet has numerous benefits, but model security remains a concern, which affects cloud embracing negatively. e security challenge gets too difficult underneath data center, while additional dimensions such as model design, multitenancy, elasticity, and the layers dependency stack have been added to the problem scope. We present a thorough examination of the cloud security challenge in this article. We looked at the issue from the standpoints of network infrastructure: cloud-provided features, cloud consumers, and cloud service delivery methods. Based on this research, we developed an in-depth characterization of the data protection challenge and recommended security solutions that should address the critical aspects of the issue. Cloud computing is an exploding field of research that relies on distributing computing power instead of using dedicated computers or smart devices. Most of the growth in this sector is attributed to the indispensability of electronic and digital gadgets and the shift from a traditional IT subscription model to a unique cloud model. Cloud computing offered a significant danger and difficulty for information system projects, but it also provided them with several possibilities to improve their data processing. It has also been noted that cloud users and consumers do not yet have the necessary forensic skills to detect illegal activity in the cloud. Although the cloud offers potential technological and economic advantages, consumers have been reluctant to adopt it primarily due to security concerns and the difficulty of conducting an appropriate investigation into the cloud. Some study has been done in this area, and strategies for conducting forensic investigations have been proposed. In this research paper, we begin by analyzing the intrusion detection progress made by other academics, and then we analyze and evaluate our conclusions in order to assess the potential difficulties that cloud forensics face based on these findings.