A Storyboard Repository for Digital Forensic Evidence Collation and Reporting

<p>Richard Boddington</p>

doi:10 .4172/2327-4581.1000411

A Storyboard Repository for Digital Forensic Evidence Collation and Reporting

Richard Boddington

Digital Forensics Institute, Western Australia

: J Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol

Abstract

One of the most challenging aspects of forensic recovery and examinations of digital data in criminal and civil cases is the collection, collation and eventual presentation of the synthesised evidence to case managers, legal teams and ultimately, the court. The recovery of electronic evidence is typically tedious and time-consuming for examiners to distil recovered evidence in a meaningful and useful analysis report is not always completed with the best outcome for recipients. A frequent challenge confronting legal teams is for them to comprehend fully the characteristics and import of digital evidence presented. They are often confronted trying to understand the often-overwhelming wealth of technical minutiae presented. Reports that contain only the evidence and minimum event reconstruction are essentially ineffectual and do not serve the justice system well; only compounding the challenges legal teams face. The relative immaturity of the digital forensic discipline raises concerns as to how many prosecutions failed because the digital evidence was not clearly understood and conversely, how many cases went to trial when the evidence was unreliable and succeeded. A proposed Storyboard Repository offers a more efficacious processes of evidence collation, recording the examiners’ thoughts and observations that might otherwise be forgotten or lost in data analysis; an all too common phenomenon. Reducing task duplication and including examiners’ observations is evident in these models; thereby saving time and fatigue. As a report presentation tool, it has much to commend in terms of flexibility of use and understanding by recipients of examiners' endeavours.