CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR DIGITAL FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS IN CLOUD COMPUTING: AN EXPLORATORY MULTIPLE-CASE STUDY (original) (raw)

Digital Forensic Investigation Standards in Cloud Computing

Universal journal of computer sciences and communications, 2024

Digital forensics in cloud computing environments presents significant challenges due to the distributed nature of data storage, diverse security practices employed by service providers, and jurisdictional complexities. This study aims to develop a comprehensive framework and improved methodologies tailored for conducting digital forensic investigations in cloud settings. A pragmatic research philosophy integrating positivist and interpretivist paradigms guides an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. Qualitative methods, including case studies, expert interviews, and document analysis were used to explore key variables and themes. Findings inform hypotheses and survey instrument development for the subsequent quantitative phase involving structured surveys with digital forensics professionals, cloud providers, and law enforcement agencies, across the globe. The multi-method approach employs purposive and stratified random sampling techniques, targeting a sample of 100-150 participants, across the globe, for qualitative components and 300-500 for quantitative surveys. Qualitative data went through thematic and content analysis, while quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods facilitated by software such as SPSS and R. An integrated mixed methods analysis synthesizes and triangulates findings, enhancing validity, reliability, and comprehensiveness. Strict ethical protocols safeguard participant confidentiality and data privacy throughout the research process. This robust methodology contributed to the development of improved frameworks, guidelines, and best practices for digital forensics investigations in cloud computing, addressing legal and jurisdictional complexities in this rapidly evolving domain.

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...

A Framework for Cloud Forensic Readiness in Organizations

2017 5th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Cloud Computing, Services, and Engineering (MobileCloud), 2017

Many have argued that cloud computing is one of the fastest growing and most transformative technologies in the history of computing. It has radically changed the way in which information technologies can manage, access, deliver and create services. It has also brought numerous benefits to end-users and organizations. However, this rapid growth in cloud computing adoption has also seen it become a new arena for cybercrime. This has, in turn, led to new technical, legal and organizational challenges. In addition to the large number of attacks which affect cloud computing and the decentralized nature of data processing in the cloud, many concerns have been raised. One of these concerns is how to conduct a proper digital investigation in cloud environments and be ready to collect data proactively before an incident occurs in order to save time, money and effort. This paper proposes the technical, legal and organizational factors that influence digital forensic readiness for Infrastructure as a Service consumers.

Towards the development of a Cloud Forensics Methodology: A Conceptual Model

Cloud Computing technology and services despite the advantages they bring to the market have created number of issues regarding the security and trust of the individuals using them. Incidents occurring in cloud computing environments are hard to be solved since digital forensic methods used to conduct digital investiga-tions are not suitable for cloud computing investigations since they do not con-sider the specific characteristics of the Cloud. However, designing services over the cloud that will support and assist an investigation process when an incident occurs is also of vital importance. This paper presents a conceptual model for supporting the development of a cloud forensics method and process, thus assist-ing information systems developers in building better services and investigators to be able to conduct forensics analysis in 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.

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.

Cloud Forensics: Identifying the Major Issues and Challenges

One of the most important areas in the developing field of cloud computing is the way that investigators conduct researches in order to reveal the ways that a digital crime took place over the cloud. This area is known as cloud forensics. While great research on digital forensics has been carried out, the current digital forensic models and frameworks used to conduct a digital investigation don’t meet the requirements and standards demanded in cloud forensics due to the nature and characteristics of cloud computing. In parallel, issues and challenges faced in traditional forensics are different to the ones of cloud forensics. This paper addresses the issues of the cloud forensics challenges identified from review conducted in the respective area and moves to a new model assigning the aforementioned challenges to stages.

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.

Overview of the Forensic Investigation of Cloud Services

Cloud Computing is a commonly used, yet ambiguous term, which can be used to refer to a multitude of differing dynamically allocated services. From a law enforcement and forensic investigation perspective, cloud computing can be thought of as a double edged sword. While on one hand, the gathering of digital evidence from cloud sources can bring with it complicated technical and cross-jurisdictional legal challenges. On the other, the employment of cloud storage and processing capabilities can expedite the forensics process and focus the investigation onto pertinent data earlier in an investigation. This paper examines the state-of-the-art in cloud-focused, digital forensic practises for the collection and analysis of evidence and an overview of the potential use of cloud technologies to provide Digital Forensics as a Service.