Practical and Legal Challenges of Cloud Investigations

TL;DR

This paper explores the technical and legal challenges of conducting digital forensic investigations in cloud environments, providing background, practical insights, and discussing current legal issues.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive overview of forensic techniques and legal considerations specific to cloud investigations, highlighting current challenges and potential solutions.

Findings

Identifies key technical hurdles in cloud forensics

Discusses legal complexities unique to cloud investigations

Provides practical guidelines for law enforcement

Abstract

An area presenting new opportunities for both legitimate business, as well as criminal organizations, is Cloud computing. This work gives a strong background in current digital forensic science, as well as a basic understanding of the goal of Law Enforcement when conducting digital forensic investigations. These concepts are then applied to digital forensic investigation of cloud environments in both theory and practice, and supplemented with current literature on the subject. Finally, legal challenges with digital forensic investigations in cloud environments are discussed.