Ethical and Legal Aspects of Digital Forensics Algorithms: The Case of Digital Evidence Acquisition

The first step that forensic examiners perform is identifying and acquiring data. Both are among the most critical segments in the forensic process since they are sine qua non for completing the examination and analysis phases. The evidence acquisition must be managed in a deliberate, ethical and legal manner. On many occasions, the outcome of the investigation depends mainly on the relevance and precision of the evidence acquired. The goal of this research is to identify both legal and ethical issues that forensic investigators face during evidence acquisition and to design a framework using design science, which recognises and resolves the problems identified. The framework must preserve the forensic soundness of the investigation, overall integrity, effectiveness, and efficiency. The elicitation of the requirements for the framework is based on a literature review and ex-ante expert interviews, while the validation and evaluation of the framework stem from ex-post expert interviews. The designed framework aims to minimise hazardous practices that lead to negative consequences and to effectively align the new technologies in digital forensics with human expertise for improved results during the phase of digital evidence acquisition.