Cloud Digital Forensic Readiness: An Open Source Approach to Law Enforcement Request Management

TL;DR

This paper introduces an open source system architecture for managing law enforcement requests in cloud environments, addressing cross-border data access challenges and enhancing digital forensic readiness.

Contribution

It proposes a novel Cloud Law Enforcement Requests Management System (CLERMS) architecture with a proof of concept and cost analysis, improving forensic readiness in cloud services.

Findings

Validated through two realistic scenarios

Developed using open source components

Economic estimation of implementation costs

Abstract

Cloud Forensics presents a multi-jurisdictional challenge that may undermines the success of digital forensic investigations (DFIs). The growing volumes of domiciled and foreign law enforcement (LE) requests, the latency and complexity of formal channels for crossborder data access are challenging issues. In this paper, we first discuss major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) transparency reports and law enforcement guidelines, then propose an abstract architecture for a Cloud Law Enforcement Requests Management System (CLERMS). A proof of concept of the proposed solution is developed, deployed and validated by two realistic scenarios, in addition to an economic estimation of its associated costs. Based on available open source components, our solution is for the benefit of both CSPs and Cloud Service Consumers (CSCs), and aims to enhance the due Cloud Digital Forensic Readiness (CDFR).