USING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY FOR PRESERVING DIGITAL EVIDENCE IN DIGITAL FORENSICS
Keywords:
blockchain, digital forensics, digital evidence, investigation, integrity of evidenceAbstract
Digital forensics is a forensic discipline that is developing very quickly because it is forced to keep up with the development of technology itself. As technology develops and advances, digital forensics must also develop at the same speed, because criminals actively use the latest technologies to commit crimes. One of the most important phases in digital forensics is the investigative phase, which is carried out by trained personel while investigating certain crimes. In this phase, all data in digital records is collected from all available devices: computers, mobile phones, signals from the phone base station, recorded messages, video files, e-mails, network traffic and other examples of digital evidence. One of the basic and most important processes in digital forensics is the management of digital evidence. Since digital evidence is very delicate by its nature, it is of utmost importance that the integrity of the evidence is fully preserved in the process of collecting evidence and later analyzing the evidence. Blockchain in digital forensics allows the digital evidence collected in the investigative phase not to be damaged or changed during transfer. One of the basic characteristics of blockchain technology is that it enables the confidentiality of data to be maintained. In addition to the above, blockchain guarantees authenticity, immutability and resilience when transferring evidence. Blockchain enables chronological sorting of transactions within blocks. Each block contains an encrypted hash of the previous block in the same chain. Each block in the chain in which data is stored also contains a timestamp and a link to data referring to the previous block. This is crucial, because it allows preserving the authenticity of evidence in the same state in which it was first discovered and collected. In other words, blockchain enables the following: preserving the integrity of the complete transfer of digital evidence, authentication that provides recognizable proof of the identity of the evidence, confidentiality and security that implies preventing unauthorized access or modification of the evidence, and encryption that allows encryption using various algorithms so that the evidence is not compromised. This paper used a systematic literature review to investigate in what ways blockchain technology helps preserve the integrity of digital evidence, and whether this technology makes digital evidence transparent and protected. The three characteristics mentioned in the literature (integrity, transparency and security of digital evidence) are listed as the most important for the proper conduct of digital investigations, and for this reason they were selected for examination in this paper. Blockchain has already been successfully used in other industries and fields, however, its application in digital forensics and forensic science in general is of utmost importance because it enables the development of more secure solutions that can contribute to more fair trial of committed crimes.
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