The State of the Art Forensic Techniques in Mobile Cloud Environment: A Survey, Challenges and Current Trends

Smartphones have become popular in recent days due to the accessibility of a wide range of applications. These sophisticated applications demand more computing resources in a resource constraint smartphone. Cloud computing is the motivating factor for the progress of these applications. The emerging mobile cloud computing introduces a new architecture to offload smartphone and utilize cloud computing technology to solve resource requirements. The popularity of mobile cloud computing is an opportunity for misuse and unlawful activities. Therefore, it is a challenging platform for digital forensic investigations due to the non-availability of methodologies, tools and techniques. The aim of this work is to analyze the forensic tools and methodologies for crime investigation in a mobile cloud platform as it poses challenges in proving the evidence.

[1]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing , 2009 .

[2]  M. Tahar Kechadi,et al.  Cloud forensics definitions and critical criteria for cloud forensic capability: An overview of survey results , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[3]  Mazliza Othman,et al.  A Survey of Mobile Cloud Computing Application Models , 2014, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[4]  Amanda Spink,et al.  Machine Learning Approach to Search Query Classification , 2008 .

[5]  Indrajit Ray,et al.  Cloud Log Forensics Metadata Analysis , 2012, 2012 IEEE 36th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops.

[6]  J. Wenny Rahayu,et al.  Mobile cloud computing: A survey , 2013, Future Gener. Comput. Syst..

[7]  Darren Quick,et al.  Forensic analysis of the android file system YAFFS2 , 2011 .

[8]  Nicolas Christin,et al.  Toward a general collection methodology for Android devices , 2011, Digit. Investig..

[9]  Alan T. Sherman,et al.  UNDERSTANDING ISSUES IN CLOUD FORENSICS: TWO HYPOTHETICAL CASE STUDIES , 2011 .

[10]  Ing-Ray Chen,et al.  A Survey of Mobile Cloud Computing Applications: Perspectives and Challenges , 2015, Wirel. Pers. Commun..

[11]  Theodora Issa,et al.  An Initial Examination of Free and Proprietary Software-Selection in Organizations , 2011, Int. J. Web Portals.

[12]  Gabriella Spinelli,et al.  Designing and Evaluating Web Interaction for Older Users , 2014 .

[13]  Maynard Yates Practical investigations of digital forensics tools for mobile devices , 2010, InfoSecCD.

[14]  Ashish Kumar Saxena,et al.  Mobile forensics: Guidelines and challenges in data preservation and acquisition , 2009, 2009 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD).

[15]  Yuyin Cui,et al.  Research on Live Forensics in Cloud Environment , 2013 .

[16]  Denis Reilly,et al.  Cloud Computing: Pros and Cons for Computer Forensic Investigations , 2011 .

[17]  Timothy Grance,et al.  Guide to Integrating Forensic Techniques into Incident Response , 2006 .

[18]  Justin Grover Android forensics: Automated data collection and reporting from a mobile device , 2013 .

[19]  Eugenio Di Sciascio,et al.  A Mobile Matchmaker for the Ubiquitous Semantic Web , 2014, Int. J. Semantic Web Inf. Syst..

[20]  Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo,et al.  Digital droplets: Microsoft SkyDrive forensic data remnants , 2013, Future Gener. Comput. Syst..

[21]  Jill Slay,et al.  Wi-Fi Network Signals as a Source of Digital Evidence: Wireless Network Forensics , 2008, 2008 Third International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security.

[22]  Raffael Marty,et al.  Cloud application logging for forensics , 2011, SAC.

[23]  Qi Shi,et al.  Forensic Analysis of Distributed Service Oriented Computing Platforms , 2011 .

[24]  M. Tahar Kechadi,et al.  Key Terms for Service Level Agreements to Support Cloud Forensics , 2012, IFIP Int. Conf. Digital Forensics.

[25]  Tim Storer,et al.  Calm Before the Storm: The Challenges of Cloud Computing in Digital Forensics , 2014, Int. J. Digit. Crime Forensics.

[26]  Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo,et al.  Dropbox analysis: Data remnants on user machines , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[27]  Dan Pescaru,et al.  Data Processing and Exchange Challenges in Video-Based Wireless Sensor Networks , 2014 .

[28]  Hing Kai Chan Web Portal Design, Implementation, Integration and Optimization , 2014 .

[29]  Stephen D. Wolthusen,et al.  Overcast: Forensic Discovery in Cloud Environments , 2009, 2009 Fifth International Conference on IT Security Incident Management and IT Forensics.

[30]  Amjad Mahmood,et al.  Object Grouping and Replication on a Distributed Web Server System , 2007, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Web Eng..

[31]  Mario Piattini,et al.  Handbook of Research on Web Information Systems Quality , 2008 .

[32]  Tim Storer,et al.  Using Smartphones as a Proxy for Forensic Evidence Contained in Cloud Storage Services , 2013, 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[33]  Wallace A. Pinheiro,et al.  A Web Metadata Based-Model for Information Quality Prediction , 2008 .

[34]  Xiaohui Liang,et al.  Secure provenance: the essential of bread and butter of data forensics in cloud computing , 2010, ASIACCS '10.

[35]  Dunren Che,et al.  A Deterministic Approach to XML Query Processing with Efficient Support for Pure and Negated Containments , 2006, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Web Eng..

[36]  Fulvio Frati,et al.  Open Source in Web-Based Applications: A Case Study on Single Sign-On , 2006, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Web Eng..

[37]  Elie Bursztein,et al.  Beyond files recovery owade cloud-based forensic , 2011 .

[38]  Murat Uysal Cooperative Communications for Improved Wireless Network Transmission: Framework for Virtual Antenna Array Applications , 2009 .

[39]  Shyam S. Pattnaik,et al.  Metamaterial-Based Wearable Microstrip Patch Antennas , 2014 .

[40]  Haixia Mao,et al.  A Survey of Mobile Cloud Computing , 2011 .

[41]  Mike Thelwall,et al.  Handbook of Research on Web Log Analysis , 2009, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[42]  Ali Dehghantanha,et al.  A survey about impacts of cloud computing on digital forensics , 2013 .

[43]  Giuseppe Cattaneo,et al.  A Novel Anti-forensics Technique for the Android OS , 2011, 2011 International Conference on Broadband and Wireless Computing, Communication and Applications.

[44]  Mark John Taylor,et al.  Forensic investigation of cloud computing systems , 2011, Netw. Secur..

[45]  Rajkumar Buyya,et al.  Article in Press Future Generation Computer Systems ( ) – Future Generation Computer Systems Cloud Computing and Emerging It Platforms: Vision, Hype, and Reality for Delivering Computing as the 5th Utility , 2022 .

[46]  Simson L. Garfinkel,et al.  Digital forensics research: The next 10 years , 2010, Digit. Investig..

[47]  Navpreet Kaur Walia,et al.  Survey on Mobile Cloud Computing , 2024, Advances in Robotic Technology.

[48]  Daryl Johnson,et al.  Third Party Application Forensics on Apple Mobile Devices , 2011, 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[49]  Chunming Rong,et al.  Evidence for Accountable Cloud Computing Services , 2013 .

[50]  Jason S. Hale Amazon Cloud Drive forensic analysis , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[51]  Sanjay P. Ahuja,et al.  On BFSA Collision Resolution in LF, HF, and UHF RFID Networks , 2015, Int. J. Wirel. Networks Broadband Technol..

[52]  Jooyoung Lee,et al.  Pervasive Forensic Analysis Based on Mobile Cloud Computing , 2011, 2011 Third International Conference on Multimedia Information Networking and Security.

[53]  Robert P. Biuk-Aghai,et al.  Critical path based approach for predicting temporal exceptions in resource constrained concurrent workflows , 2010, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Web Eng..

[54]  Denis Yannacopoulos,et al.  Evaluating Websites and Web Services: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on User Satisfaction , 2014 .

[55]  Meng Zhu,et al.  Mobile Cloud Computing: implications to smartphone forensic procedures and methodologies , 2011 .

[56]  Mohammed I. Al-Saleh,et al.  Skype Forensics in Android Devices , 2013 .

[57]  Theodore Tryfonas,et al.  Forensic analysis of wireless networking evidence of Android smartphones , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Workshop on Information Forensics and Security (WIFS).

[58]  Rafael Accorsi,et al.  Safe-Keeping Digital Evidence with Secure Logging Protocols: State of the Art and Challenges , 2009, 2009 Fifth International Conference on IT Security Incident Management and IT Forensics.

[59]  Hein S. Venter,et al.  Digital Forensic Framework for a Cloud Environment , 2012 .

[60]  Shunxiang Wu,et al.  Research of an E-mail forensic and analysis system based on visualization , 2009, 2009 Asia-Pacific Conference on Computational Intelligence and Industrial Applications (PACIIA).

[61]  Gary C. Kessler,et al.  Android forensics: Simplifying cell phone examinations , 2010 .

[62]  Ibrahim Baggili,et al.  Forensic analysis of social networking applications on mobile devices , 2012, Digit. Investig..

[63]  Feng Gao,et al.  Analysis of WeChat on IPhone , 2013 .

[64]  Paolo Gubian,et al.  Forensics and SIM Cards: An Overview , 2006, Int. J. Digit. EVid..

[65]  Dominik Birk Technical Challenges of Forensic Investigations in Cloud Computing Environments , 2011 .

[66]  Sangjin Lee,et al.  Digital forensic investigation of cloud storage services , 2012, Digit. Investig..

[67]  E. D. Sciascio,et al.  Mobile Computing and Wireless Networks : Concepts , Methodologies , 2016 .

[68]  Xie Jian,et al.  An Optimized Solution for Mobile Environment Using Mobile Cloud Computing , 2009, 2009 5th International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing.

[69]  Christoph Wegener,et al.  Technical Issues of Forensic Investigations in Cloud Computing Environments , 2011, 2011 Sixth IEEE International Workshop on Systematic Approaches to Digital Forensic Engineering.

[70]  László Bokor,et al.  Survey and Evaluation of Advanced Mobility Management Schemes in the Host Identity Layer , 2014, Int. J. Wirel. Networks Broadband Technol..

[71]  Andrew Hunt,et al.  Automated identification of installed malicious Android applications , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[72]  Mark Taylor,et al.  Digital evidence in cloud computing systems , 2010, Comput. Law Secur. Rev..

[73]  Golden G. Richard,et al.  Acquisition and analysis of volatile memory from android devices , 2012, Digit. Investig..

[74]  Philip Clark Digital Forensics Tool Testing - Image Metadata in the Cloud , 2011 .

[75]  Andrei Gurtov,et al.  Handbook of Research on Progressive Trends in Wireless Communications and Networking , 2014 .

[76]  KechadiTahar,et al.  The State of the Art Forensic Techniques in Mobile Cloud Environment , 2015 .

[77]  Martin S. Olivier,et al.  Isolating a cloud instance for a digital forensic investigation , 2011, ISSA.

[78]  Maurizio Rossi,et al.  Internal forensic acquisition for mobile equipments , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing.

[79]  Ali Dehghantanha,et al.  Cloud Forensics Issues and Opportunities , 2013 .

[80]  Jonathan Zdziarski Identifying back doors, attack points, and surveillance mechanisms in iOS devices , 2014, Digit. Investig..

[81]  Corrado Federici,et al.  Cloud Data Imager: A unified answer to remote acquisition of cloud storage areas , 2014, Digit. Investig..

[82]  Alan T. Sherman,et al.  Acquiring forensic evidence from infrastructure-as-a-service cloud computing: Exploring and evaluating tools, trust, and techniques , 2012, Digit. Investig..

[83]  Sangjin Lee,et al.  A study of user data integrity during acquisition of Android devices , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[84]  Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo,et al.  Forensic collection of cloud storage data: Does the act of collection result in changes to the data or its metadata? , 2013, Digit. Investig..

[85]  Ken ZatykoDr The Digital Forensics Cyber Exchange Principle , 2014 .