Resumen de Investigation delayed Is justice denied: Proposals for expediting forensic examinations of digital evidence
Eoghan Casey, Monique Ferraro, Lam Nguyen
There is an urgent need to reduce the growing backlog of forensic examinations in Digital Forensics Laboratories (DFLs).Currently, D FLs routinely create forensic duplicates and perform in-depth forensic examinations of all submitted media. This approach is rapidlybecoming untenable as more cases involve increasing quantities of digital evidence. A more efficient and effective three-tiered strategy for performingforensic examinations will enable DFLs to produce useful results in a timely manner at different phases of an investigation, and will reduce unneces-sary expenditure of resources on less serious matters. The three levels of forensic examination are described along with practical examples and suit-able tools. Realizing that this is not simply a technical problem, we address the need to update training and establish thresholds in DFLs. Thresholdconsiderations include the likelihood of missing exculpatory evidence and seriousness of the offense. We conclude with the implications of scalingforensic examinations to the investigation
