Taxonomy of Challenges for Digital Forensics

Since its inception, over a decade ago, the field of digital forensics has faced numerous challenges. Despite different researchers and digital forensic practitioners having studied and analysed various known digital forensic challenges, as of 2013, there still exists a need for a formal classification of these challenges. This article therefore reviews existing research literature and highlights the various challenges that digital forensics has faced for the last 10 years. In conducting this research study, however, it was difficult for the authors to review all the existing research literature in the digital forensic domain; hence, sampling and randomization techniques were employed to facilitate the review of the gathered literature. Taxonomy of the various challenges is subsequently proposed in this paper based on our review of the literature. The taxonomy classifies the large number of digital forensic challenges into four well‐defined and easily understood categories. The proposed taxonomy can be useful, for example, in future developments of automated digital forensic tools by explicitly describing processes and procedures that focus on addressing specific challenges identified in this paper. However, it should also be noted that the purpose of this paper was not to propose any solutions to the individual challenges that digital forensics face, but to serve as a survey of the state of the art of the research area.     

Is PCL-R psychopathy associated with either type or severity of personality disorder?

The extent to which assessment of personality disorders (PDs), and trans-diagnostic measures of PD severity, can capture the variance in psychopathy measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was examined in 100 forensic patients with a history of violent offending. Correlational and linear regression analyses were carried out to establish whether (i) combinations of PDs would predict PCL-R scores for each of its two factors, interpersonal–affective (F1) and antisocial deviance (F2); (ii) ‘acting out’, a putative measure of externalising maladjustment that transcends PD categories, would predict PCL-R scores. Results showed that narcissistic and avoidant PDs contributed significantly to the prediction of F1, but only antisocial PD contributed to the prediction of F2. ‘Acting out’ predicted both F1 and F2, suggesting that core features of PCL-R psychopathy are embedded within and across different PD diagnoses. Results are discussed in relation to different sub-types of psychopathy described in the literature.     

File fragment encoding classification—An empirical approach

Over the past decade, a substantial effort has been put into developing methods to classify file fragments. Throughout, it has been an article of faith that data fragments, such as disk blocks, can be attributed to different file types. This work is an attempt to critically examine the underlying assumptions and compare them to empirically collected data. Specifically, we focus most of our effort on surveying several common compressed data formats, and show that the simplistic conceptual framework of prior work is at odds with the realities of actual data. We introduce a new tool, zsniff, which allows us to analyze deflate-encoded data, and we use it to perform an empirical survey of deflate-coded text, images, and executables. The results offer a conceptually new type of classification capabilities that cannot be achieved by other means.     

犯罪现场重建证据的分类及其影响因素

根据刑事证据在犯罪现场重建中的作用,我们可将证据分为顺序性证据、方向性证据、行为性证据、权属性证据.与犯罪行为有关的证据在形成之后,由于行为因素、自然因素、现场处置因素等各种因素的影响,可能会发生改变、移位、模糊或消失.在运用证据进行现场重建时,要充分考虑各种因素对重建证据的影响,以保证犯罪现场重建所得结论的客观真实.     

对国家赔偿法归责原则的思考

1995年1月1日正式实施的《中华人民共和国国家赔偿法》,在我国法制史上第一次确立了国家侵权责任制度。由于立法时客观条件的制约,这部法律实施10年来,突显出许多不合理、不完善之处,本文将简要分析国家赔偿法违法责任原则一些局限,并提出作者的观点,以引起大家的思考。     

反侦查行为的界定及其分类

反侦查行为是一种阻碍侦查活动的行为。目前 ,关于其概念和类型的研究不够深入。对反侦查行为的概念 ,应从其实施的主体、对抗的客体、实施的阶段、实施的目的及表现形式、与犯罪行为的关系等方面进行界定。对反侦查行为的类型 ,可从贴近侦查实践的视角将其分为破坏型反侦查行为、逃避型反侦查行为、干扰型反侦查行为、暴力对抗型反侦查行为、其它类型的反侦查行为等。     

论刑事诉讼中的当事人证据

诉讼中的当事人具有诉讼主体和知情证人的双重属性.英美法系与大陆法系国家对此的立法存有较大的差异.比较和研究这一差异,指出应当将当事人作为诉讼证据的证据形式,以便充分利用其通过大脑记忆的案件事实的有关信息来帮助查明案件事实.由此,还对诉讼当事人作为证据的条件和分类作了研究.     

Discourse Categories in Encounters Between Palestinians and Israelis

The discourse in encounter groups between Jewish and Palestinian Israeli citizens was analyzed to investigate factors that promoted or hindered understanding between conflict groups. A typology of seven categories, ordered on a scale from monologues that do not meet to affective and cognitive understanding, was used. A histogram presented percents of speech categories per encounter. Qualitative and quantitative methods exposed factors influencing group processes. Changes in speech categories were chaotic, as opposed to linear. Analysis showed an interaction between the pressure of the conflict reality outside and the internal group process. This article addresses the theoretical question of the goal of intergroup encounters.     

犯罪分类的观念与形态

刑法学注重事后合理的定罪量刑,表现在犯罪分类上,主要以行为性质展开,关注的是行为的法益侵害属性,竭力表述不同性质的行为在具体犯罪构成上的区别;犯罪学注重揭示犯罪原因、强调事前犯罪预防,表现在犯罪分类上,主要展示犯罪原因与犯罪预防个别特征的犯罪人的类型;同时关注说明犯罪人人格特征的行为类型。在法律规范的框架内,刑事近代学派的思想只是一种观念的引导,它的刑法学意义必须通过刑法规范的形式,转化成具体的技术方法;尽管思想为根、为本,但是技术为体、为形;并且,若是缺乏了技术操作,则无所谓刑法。     

Making the grade: infrastructural semiotics and derivative market outcomes on the Chicago Board of Trade and New Orleans Cotton Exchange, 1856–1909

This paper contributes to a socio-technical analysis of derivatives by offering an infrastructural explanation of divergent outcomes on two early American futures markets. It takes as the starting-point of analysis the classification systems by which these futures markets were constitutively linked to underlying markets in agricultural commodities. Despite the formal similarity of these systems, their contrasting implementation – i.e. how grading was accomplished and integrated into practice – produced classifications with dissimilar semiotic qualities. This semiotic distinction is shown to have promoted divergent economic behaviours and outcomes on the two markets: high-risk speculation and volatility on the Chicago Board of Trade, low-risk hedging and stability on the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. The paper thus argues that treating classifications in their semiotic capacity yields an analysis that can connect foundational infrastructures and market-level outcomes in meaningful, non-deterministic ways.