Forensics Acquisition of IMVU: A Case Study

TL;DR

This paper presents a forensic acquisition process for IMVU, a virtual universe application, highlighting challenges and experimental analysis to aid digital investigations involving IMVU.

Contribution

It introduces a novel forensic acquisition method for IMVU and provides experimental insights into its application, addressing a research gap in digital forensics.

Findings

Identified key challenges in IMVU forensics

Developed a forensic acquisition procedure for IMVU

Analyzed experimental results of IMVU forensic process

Abstract

There are many applications available for personal computers and mobile devices that facilitate users in meeting potential partners. There is, however, a risk associated with the level of anonymity on using instant message applications, because there exists the potential for predators to attract and lure vulnerable users. Today Instant Messaging within a Virtual Universe (IMVU) combines custom avatars, chat or instant message (IM), community, content creation, commerce, and anonymity. IMVU is also being exploited by criminals to commit a wide variety of offenses. However, there are very few researches on digital forensic acquisition of IMVU applications. In this paper, we discuss first of all on challenges of IMVU forensics. We present a forensic acquisition of an IMVU 3D application as a case study. We also describe and analyse our experiments with this application.