Digital forensics

The field of forensic science known as digital forensics (sometimes referred to as digital forensic science) encompasses the recovery, investigation, inspection, and analysis of material discovered in digital devices. This is often done in connection to mobile devices and computer crimes. The analysis of any and all devices that are capable of storing digital data is now included under the umbrella term "digital forensics," which was once used as a synonym for "computer forensics." The personal computer revolution of the late 1970s and early 1980s is where the discipline had its start. However, throughout the 1990s, it developed in a rather haphazard fashion, and it wasn't until the early 21st century that national regulations started to emerge.

Investigations using digital forensics may be used in many different contexts. The most typical one is to either support or contradict a theory in front of a criminal or civil court. Civil cases, on the other hand, are concerned with protecting the rights and property of individuals (often associated with family disputes), but they may also be concerned with contractual disputes between commercial entities. In these cases, a form of digital forensics known as electronic discovery (ediscovery) may be involved.

In the business sector, forensics may also play a role, for instance, in the course of corporate internal investigations or penetration investigations (a specialist probe into the nature and extent of an unauthorised network intrusion).

Computer forensics, network forensics, forensic data analysis, and mobile device forensics are the four subfields that make up the technical part of an investigation. These subfields are separated into many divisions based on the kind of digital devices that are being investigated. The standard forensic procedure consists of the seizure, forensic imaging (collection), and analysis of digital media, as well as the development of a report concerning the evidence that has been acquired.

Investigations have a far greater scope than other disciplines of forensic research, the goal of which is often to offer answers to a series of smaller inquiries. Furthermore, investigations may include complicated time lines or hypotheses.