Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Forensic Investigation Process: Dji Phantom 3 Drone As A Case Study

TL;DR

This paper examines the challenges of UAV forensic investigations, evaluates existing guidelines, proposes new tailored guidelines, and demonstrates their application through a DJI Phantom 3 case study.

Contribution

It introduces a specialized forensic investigation process for UAVs, addressing gaps in existing guidelines with a practical case study.

Findings

Existing guidelines are insufficient for UAV forensics

Proposed guidelines improve investigation effectiveness

Case study validates the new forensic process

Abstract

Drones (also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs) is a potential source of evidence in a digital investigation, partly due to their increasing popularity in our society. However, existing UAV/drone forensics generally rely on conventional digital forensic investigation guidelines such as those of ACPO and NIST, which may not be entirely fit_for_purpose. In this paper, we identify the challenges associated with UAV/drone forensics. We then explore and evaluate existing forensic guidelines, in terms of their effectiveness for UAV/drone forensic investigations. Next, we present our set of guidelines for UAV/drone investigations. Finally, we demonstrate how the proposed guidelines can be used to guide a drone forensic investigation using the DJI Phantom 3 drone as a case study.