NDLI: Automated Production of Predetermined Digital Evidence

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Castiglione, A. Cattaneo, G. De Maio, G. De Santis, A.
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Digital evidence is increasingly used in juridical proceedings. In some recent legal cases, the verdict has been strongly influenced by the digital evidence proffered by the defense. Digital traces can be left on computers, phones, digital cameras, and also on remote machines belonging to ISPs, telephone providers, companies that provide services via Internet such as YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, and so on. This paper presents a methodology for the automated production of predetermined digital evidence, which can be leveraged to forge a digital alibi. It is based on the use of an automation, a program meant to simulate any common user activity. In addition to wanted traces, the automation may produce a number of unwanted traces, which may be disclosed upon a digital forensic analysis. These include data remanence of suspicious files, as well as any kind of logs generated by the operating system modules and services. The proposed methodology describes a process to design, implement, and execute the automation on a target system, and to properly handle both wanted and unwanted evidence. Many experiments with different combinations of automation tools and operating systems are conducted. This paper presents an implementation of the methodology through VBScript on Windows 7. A forensic analysis on the target system is not sufficient to reveal that the alibi is forged by automation. These considerations emphasize the difference between digital and traditional evidence. Digital evidence is always circumstantial, and therefore it should be considered relevant only if supported by stronger evidence collected through traditional investigation techniques. Thus, a Court verdict should not be based solely on digital evidence.
Starting Page	216
Ending Page	231
Page Count	16
File Size	597251
File Format	PDF
ISSN	21693536
Volume Number	1
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2013-01-01
Publisher Place	U.S.A.
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Forensics Software Digital forensics Legal aspects Microcomputers Digital systems Law Social network services false digital alibi Antiforensics automated alibi counter-forensics digital alibi digital evidence digital forensics digital investigation false alibi
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Computer Science Engineering Materials Science

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