Digital Forensics--State of the Science and Foundational Research Activity

Within the fields of computer science and software engineering greater attention is being given today to the broad topic of information assurance. This minitrack focuses on an emerging subspecialty within information assurance that is largely driven by software technology -- that of Digital Forensics. Digital forensics involves the use of software, computer science, software engineering, and criminal justice procedures to explore and or investigate digital media with the objective of finding evidence to support a criminal or administrative case. It involves the preservation, identification, extraction, and documentation of computer or network evidence. This minitrack includes papers in two important general areas - digital forensics pedagogy at the university level and current research efforts in improving digital forensics tools and techniques.