Mobile Forensics and Digital Solutions

Current status, challenges and future directions

Abstract

Mobile devices have become an indispensable part of modern society and are used throughout the world on a daily basis. The proliferation of such devices has rendered them a crucial part of criminal investigations and has led to the rapid advancement of the scientific field of Mobile Forensics. The forensic examination of mobile devices provides essential information for authorities in the investigation of cases and their relative importance advances as more evidence and traces of criminal activity can be acquired through the analysis of the corresponding forensic artifacts. Data related to the device user, call logs, text messages, contacts, image and video files, notes, communication records, networking activity and application related data, among others, with correct technical interpretation and correlation through expert analysis, can significantly contribute to the successful completion of digital criminal investigations. The above underline the necessity for advanced forensic tools that will utilize the most prominent achievements in Data Science. In this paper, the current status of Mobile Forensics as a branch of Digital Forensics is examined by exploring the most important challenges that digital forensic examiners face and investigating whether Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions can revolutionize the daily practice with respect to digital forensics investigations. The utilization of these emerging technologies provides crucial tools and enhances the professional expertise of digital forensic scientists, paving the way to overcome the critical challenges of digital criminal investigations.