A review of quality procedures in the UK forensic sciences: What can the field of digital forensics learn?

With a reliance on the various forms of forensic science evidence in complex criminal investigations, the measures for ensuring its quality are facing increasing scrutiny. Improvements to quality management systems, to ensure both the robust application of scientific principles and the accurate interpretation and reporting of results, have arisen as a consequence of high-profile rebuttals of forensic science evidence, combined with process improvements driven by evaluation of current practice. These improvements are crucial to ensure validity of results as well as providing assurance for all those involved in the Criminal Justice System. This work first examines the quality management systems utilised for the examination and analysis of fingerprint, body fluid and DNA evidence. It then proceeds to highlight an apparent lack of comparable quality assurance mechanisms within the field of digital forensics, one of the newest branches of forensic science. Proposals are provided for the improvement of quality assurance for the digital forensics arena, drawing on the experiences of, and more well-established practices within, other forensic disciplines.     

Can whale-fall studies inform human forensics?

Experimental knowledge of human body decomposition in the deep ocean is very limited, partly due to the logistical challenges of deep-sea research. The literature on ecological responses to the arrival of naturally sunk and implanted whale carcasses on the seafloor represents a potential source of information relevant to questions of human body survival and recovery in the deep ocean. Whale falls trigger the formation of complex, localized, and dense biological communities that have become a point of interest for marine biologists for the past 2–3 decades. Researchers have documented whale falls by whale type, size, geographic location, water depth and water chemistry, and there have been some comparative analyses of decomposition rates and faunal presence on carcasses. We undertook a review and meta-analysis of the whale-fall literature to identify and statistically model trends relevant to human forensics. Results from studies using deep-sea cameras baited with pig carcasses and simulated carrion provided further validation of noted trends. The stages of whale carcass decomposition most relevant to human forensics are those characterised by mobile scavengers that strip the soft tissues from carcasses, and to a lesser degree, other biota that degrade skeletal material. Our statistical models used the number of faunal taxa attracted to the whale carcasses as a measure of the ecological response and the potential rate of decomposition. Negative binomial models identified significant influences of carcass age and dissolved oxygen concentration on the ecological response (taxon numbers). The strongest environmental effects were identified in data from experimental studies that implanted whale carcasses across a broad range of dissolved-oxygen conditions. We propose directions for further experimental research to refine models of environmental controls on decomposition in the deep sea. Our results also highlight the potential use of publicly available global databases on environmental conditions in the deep ocean for informing body scavenging activity and thus body survival. Applying a forensic lens to whale-fall studies provides a window into an otherwise unseen world from the standpoint of human forensic taphonomy.     

Control systems/SCADA forensics,what's the difference?

Immature IT security, increasing network connectivity and unwavering media attention is causing an increase in the number of control system cyber security incidents. For forensic examinations in these environments, knowledge and skills are needed in the field of hardware, networks and data analysis. For forensic examiners, this paper is meant to be a crash course on control systems and their forensic opportunities, focussing on the differences compared to regular IT systems. Assistance from experienced field engineers during forensic acquisition of control systems seems inevitable in order to guarantee process safety, business continuity and examination efficiency. For people working in the control system community, this paper may be helpful to get an idea about specific forensic issues about which they would normally not bother, but may be crucial as soon as their systems are under attack or become part of a law enforcement investigation. For analysis of acquired data, existing tools for network security monitoring have useful functionality for forensic applications but are designed for real-time acquisition and often not directly usable for post-mortem analysis of acquired data in a forensically sound way. The constant and predictable way in which control systems normally behave makes forensic application of anomaly-based threat detection an interesting topic for further research.     

“I couldn't find it your honour,it mustn't be there!” – Tool errors,tool limitations and user error in digital forensics

The field of digital forensics maintains significant reliance on the software it uses to acquire and investigate forms of digital evidence. Without these tools, analysis of digital devices would often not be possible. Despite such levels of reliance, techniques for validating digital forensic software are sparse and research is limited in both volume and depth. As practitioners pursue the goal of producing robust evidence, they face the onerous task of both ensuring the accuracy of their tools and, their effective use. Whilst tool errors provide one issue, establishing a tool's limitations also provides an investigatory challenge leading the potential for practitioner user-error and ultimately a grey area of accountability. This article debates the problems surrounding digital forensic tool usage, evidential reliability and validation.     

Soil forensics: How far can soil clay analysis distinguish between soil vestiges?

Soil traces are useful as forensic evidences because they frequently adhere to individuals and objects associated with crimes and can place or discard a suspect at/from a crime scene. Soil is a mixture of organic and inorganic components and among them soil clay contains signatures that make it reliable as forensic evidence. In this study, we hypothesized that soils can be forensically distinguished through the analysis of their clay fraction alone, and that samples of the same soil type can be consistently distinguished according to the distance they were collected from each other. To test these hypotheses 16 Oxisol samples were collected at distances of between 2 m and 1.000 m, and 16 Inceptisol samples were collected at distances of between 2 m and 300 m from each other. Clay fractions were extracted from soil samples and analyzed for hyperspectral color reflectance (HSI), X-ray diffraction crystallographic (XRD), and for contents of iron oxides, kaolinite and gibbsite. The dataset was submitted to multivariate analysis and results were from 65% to 100% effective to distinguish between samples from the two soil types. Both soil types could be consistently distinguished for forensic purposes according to the distance that samples were collected from each other: 1000 m for Oxisol and 10 m for Inceptisol. Clay color and XRD analysis were the most effective techniques to distinguish clay samples, and Inceptisol samples were more easily distinguished than Oxisol samples. Soil forensics seems a promising field for soil scientists as soil clay can be useful as forensic evidence by using routine analytical techniques from soil science.     

Rapid and non-destructive identification of claws using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy–A novel approach in wildlife forensics

Differentiation and identification of Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) and Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) claws is a challenging task in wildlife forensics, due to similarity in their morphology, anatomy and chemical compositions as both the species are closely related to each other genetically. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, which offers a non-destructive and safe alternative technique to other conventional methods, has been employed in the present work to differentiate claws of Royal Bengal Tiger and Indian Leopard. An attempt has been made to differentiate 31 reference claw samples from 16 different Royal Bengal Tigers, 15 different Indian Leopards, and 10 fake claws using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy supplemented with PCA, PLS-DA, and LDA. PCA could not distinguish the samples of two closely related species among themselves as well as from the fake claws. On the other hand, PLS-DA and LDA models both yielded highly significant classification rate for differentiation among the samples of Royal Bengal Tiger, Indian Leopard, and their fake counterparts. Further, seven blind claw samples that were pretended to be unknown to the analyst of both the species are also examined and identified correctly to their respective groups. The R-Square value obtained for PLS-DA model to differentiate Royal Bengal Tiger, Indian Leopard, and fake claws is 0.99, which is highly significant for predictive accuracy. This study shows that ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with PLS-DA/LDA has a potential to present a rapid, non-destructive, reliable, and eco-friendly approach for the accurate identification and differentiation of Royal Bengal Tiger and Indian Leopard claws.     

Can computer forensic tools be trusted in digital investigations?

This paper investigates whether computer forensic tools (CFTs) can extract complete and credible digital evidence from digital crime scenes in the presence of file system anti-forensic (AF) attacks. The study uses a well-established six stage forensic tool testing methodology based on black-box testing principles to carry out experiments that evaluate four leading CFTs for their potential to combat eleven different file system AF attacks. Results suggest that only a few AF attacks are identified by all the evaluated CFTs, while as most of the attacks considered by the study go unnoticed. These AF attacks exploit basic file system features, can be executed using simple tools, and even attack CFTs to accomplish their task. These results imply that evidences collected by CFTs in digital investigations are not complete and credible in the presence of AF attacks. The study suggests that practitioners and academicians should not absolutely rely on CFTs for evidence extraction from a digital crime scene, highlights the implications of doing so, and makes many recommendations in this regard. The study also points towards immediate and aggressive research efforts that are required in the area of computer forensics to address the pitfalls of CFTs.     

How to understand China's approach to central bank digital currency?

China's central bank digital currency (CBDC), digital yuan or e-CNY, is likely to profoundly affect the international financial system. China's CBDC is fast evolving. Understanding the influencing factors of China's CBDC will likely be crucial to explore its future direction. Major influencing factors include (i) China's perception and conception of regulation and technology, (ii) complementarity between China's preferences and CBDC development, (iii) domestic and international legitimacy, and (iv) institutional development. This paper argues that these influencing factors contribute to China's likely approach of selectively reshaping the international financial system. Given the potential wide-ranging implications of the introduction of CBDC globally, China's approach may be significant in the next evolution of money.     

Can hyperlinks and digital rights management secure affordable access to information?

Digital Rights Management Systems (DRMs) related control mechanism, which are analogous to and augment the exclusive rights, have been the subject of debate since the early 1980s. DRMs, which function like an electronic security guard that ‘never leaves its post, never takes a break and never sleeps,¹ can invade the privacy of individuals, prevent competition and/or control access to a work that is not or is no longer copyright protected. Hyperlinks are citations of an electronic address, but when clicked they navigate the user to the source of further information, including codes circumventing DRMs. This article accepts that the excesses of DRMs can outreach copyright and/or contract law, but argues that DRMs provide an opportunity for innovative business models, which can both protect digital works and promote free use of hyperlinks. Part 1 outlines the background and legislative provisions related to DRMs. It contrasts the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) 1996,² Articles 11 and 12, with corresponding provisions found in the implementing legislation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998,³ and the EU Copyright Directive (EUCD) 2001.⁴ It also examines the intellectual property aspects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Europe's Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).⁵ Part 2 debates opposing academic opinion and comments on case law relating to DRMs, including the use of hyperlinks as a way of trafficking circumvention technology and/or facilitating unauthorised access to a copyright work. It assesses the extent to which DRMs might inhibits the development of new products, prevents competition, or invades the privacy of individuals, and points to the opportunities a consumer group-rightholder negotiated model end user licence can offer. Part 3 concludes that DRMs bolsters the clutches of the rightholder, but reduce unauthorised access to information thus minimising revenue loss, which can make hyperlinked ‘consumer’ access to information ‘affordable,’ or even free.     

Taming digital gatekeepers: the ‘more regulatory approach’ to antitrust law

Antitrust enforcement and competition policy in the digital economy is high on the agenda of authorities and policymakers. The distinctive features of digital markets and the strategic role played by large platforms apparently require a rethinking of the antitrust regime. Several reform proposals point to the need to integrate the antitrust toolkit with ex ante measures since there is a risk that ex post enforcement would be too slow to successfully keep markets competitive and contestable. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the invoked regulatory approach reflects the distinctive structural features of digital markets or whether it is just an enforcement short-cut.     

There's more to it than data protection – Fundamental rights,privacy and the personal/household exemption in the digital age

Heated debates triggered by the plans to introduce the “right to be forgotten” exposed problems the all-encompassing application of rules on data processing may cause in practice. The purpose of this article is to discuss the compatibility of these rules with the rapidly evolving online environment in the context of the need to guarantee human rights on the internet. The author argues that there is an imbalance in the protection of individual rights online. It results from the limited application of personal/household exception and, in general, the narrow understanding of the concept of online privacy. According to the author in order for data protection laws to flesh out not only the fundamental right of data protection, but also play a mediatory role in balancing other rights, the application of the personal/household exception should be extended to include private online activities. This would reflect the complex character of the very concept of online privacy, diversity of actors and activities shaping online “territories”, as well as the increasingly heterogeneous fabric of the Web.     

The ITS Directive: More than a timeframe with privacy concerns and a means for access to public data for digital road maps?

Roads are ever more congested, pollution keeps rising and traffic-related deaths remain at unacceptable levels. It is clear that society’s needs with regard to transportation and mobility have become unsustainable. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are often heralded as a potential solution to this problem, yet have still to yield tangible results. The EU has, however, adopted the ITS Directive, aiming for an EU-wide implementation of ITS solutions. Three questions are raised. First, can the ITS Directive really provide for the required substantial provisions in this field? Second, as ITS solutions are often deemed to be pervasive and intrusive, how does the ITS Directive interact with the EU legal framework on privacy and data protection? Third, given the involvement of private commercial entities in the field of providing road, traffic and travel data, can a public–private partnership be found to allow for the re-use of both public and private sector data in ITS solutions?