The Analytical Research Paper

The Analytical Research Paper

Research Paper
You are required to write a 8 pages research paper, double-spaced, on a current topic within the realm of digital forensics using the abstract previously submitted. “{See Abstract attached]” Abstract has been approved. The paper has to be well referenced. This is defined by having at least two “peer reviewed” references cited. For the purposes of this assignment, we will consider any paper published in a conference proceedings or journal as peer reviewed. The following notes are available from the Purdue OWL Writing Lab.

The Analytical Research Paper
Challenges Cloud computing pose to the field of Digital Forensics

The Paper Writing Process
For the purposes of a graduate-level research paper, all references must be academically strong, meaning from scholarly journals and published in the last 3-5 years. The best source of research is the UMGC Library.

Resources:
Purdue OWL Writing Resources: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/1/ UMUC Digital Library: https://sites.umgc.edu/library/index.cfm

UMUC Writing Center: https://www.umgc.edu/current-students/learning- resources/writing-center/index.cfm Click the attachment below. Rubic Below. It is very very important all Rubric requirements are met. All I mean steps by steps. All pin points on the rubric must be met!
Research Paper Grading Rubric

Criteria Expectation

Structure

1. Present material in clear and/or logical order.
2. Transition smoothly and develop connections from point to point.
3. Create coherent progress from introduction through conclusion.
4. Complete assignment in accordance with instructions.
5. Create meaningful topic sentence for each paragraph and point.
6. Develop each paragraph’s single topic to the appropriate depth.
7. Summarize, paraphrase, and quote accurately.
8. Identify target audience.
9. Explain unfamiliar terms and material (e.g., acronyms).

Topic articulation

1. Articulate topic and purpose clearly.
2. Support topic and purpose fully.
3. Provide relevant and original supporting detail.
4. Summarize the issue or problem, using supporting details to enable a deeper understanding of the issue or problem.
5. Identify potential underlying causes or conditions contributing to the issue or problem.
6. Provide scan of environment for cues to inform/explain issue or problem.
7. Select and incorporate information that provides evidence for the topic.
8. State logical conclusions and potential solutions to issue or problem.
9. Explain the field of Digital Forensics and clearly articulate the relevance of the issue or problem to the field of DF.

Mechanics

1. Employ precise, appropriate language. Avoid language that indicates bias.
2. Express ideas clearly and concisely.
3. Eliminate sentence-level errors, such as run-ons, comma splices and fragmented sentences.
4. Adhere to standard usage rules of grammar and spelling.

References

1. Use a variety of credible sources to support, extend, and inform an idea integrating source material smoothly.
2. Cite sources properly, including for graphics.
3. No instances of plagiarism.

Concerns

Grade

RUNNING HEAD: FORENSICS 1

FORENSICS 5

Challenges Cloud computing pose to the field of Digital Forensics Abstracts

Cloud computing is a technology that involves sharing and availing of resources over the internet by the use of remote servers other than the use of local servers or personal computers to store process and manage data(Alex and Kishore, 2017). This is a technology that is rapidly being adopted by large corporations due to its tremendous impact on business activity which includes resource sharing, computer power-sharing and many others(Esposito et al, 2016). However, every emerging technology comes with its disadvantages that will be tackled in this article which is inclined to the topic of forensics.

Forensics of digital data is the process of interpreting of digital data its main aim is maintaining the data in its most authentic form. It involves chain custody, search authority, imaging and hashing functions, validated tools, analysis, reporting, repeatability and presentations(Rani et al, 2016). Cloud computing poses major challenges in the field of digital forensics and it has been a topic of research by many scholars because a solution needs to be found to mitigate risks in the field of computer security. The challenges that will be discussed include data accessibility problems, recovery of overwritten data, deletion in the cloud, reconstructing of virtual storage challenge, low-cost computing power to criminals and difficulty in performing real-time intelligence activities (Samy et al, 2017).

Data accessibility challenges come due to the physical distribution and location of data. This is the major challenge that cloud computing poses on forensics because data that is needed for investigation purposes are normally stored in different servers located in different physical areas and the challenge comes in in the circumstance where the data is stored on servers in countries that do not recognize the cyber-crimes and laws have not yet been put in place to regulate the digital crimes that are emergent(Alenezi et al, 2017). This puts the investigator in a difficult situation because they may be prevented from having the jurisdiction of data, therefore, lacking evidence to present in court for persecution purposes.

Recovery of deleted data is a challenge mostly before data is overwritten this Is because of the shared virtual environment(Vincze, 2016). data location in the computer memory is in terms of data structures and if data is stored the nodes point to the location of data and when deleted it is the nodes that point to the location that is deleted this, therefore, means when data is deleted by a user it cannot be recovered thus no data can be collected or preserved for presentation in court, therefore, no evidence against the criminal(Miranda et al, 2016).

Reconstruction of the virtual storage is a challenge that it poses because cloud computing has a very complex architecture and trying to reconstruct it may lead to time wastage and data loss this thus increases the risk of being sued by the criminal due to inaccuracy of data presented because of damage of the authentic media(Lillis et al, 2016). This is very serious and may lead to excessive usage of resources with little output in terms of accuracy of data(Aziz et al, 2017).

Low cost of computing power to criminals is a challenge because the computing power offered by cloud computing is enormous and criminal with low power budgets may continue with their malice due to the leverage that cloud computing offers them this increases the damage they may cause by a very large percentage this is critical because of the losses they may pose to the victims, for instance, google app engine was used to power botnets in 2009 (Cameron, 2018).

References

Alenezi, A., Hussein, R. K., Walters, R. J., & Wills, G. B. (2017, April). A framework for cloud forensic readiness in organizations. In 2017 5th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Cloud Computing, Services, and Engineering (MobileCloud) (pp. 199-204). IEEE. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7944896/

Alex, M. E., & Kishore, R. (2017). Forensics framework for cloud computing. Computers & Electrical Engineering, 60, 193-205. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045790617302689

Aziz, A. S. A., Fouad, M. M., & Hassanien, A. E. (2017). Cloud computing forensic analysis: trends and challenges. In Multimedia Forensics and Security (pp. 3-23). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-44270-9_1

Cameron, L. (2018). Future of digital forensics faces six security challenges in fighting borderless cybercrime and dark web tools. Retrieved from https://info.computer.org/publications/tech-news/research/digital- forensics-security-challenges-cybercrime

Esposito, C., Castiglione, A., Pop, F., & Choo, K. K. R. (2017). Challenges of connecting edge and cloud computing: A security and forensic perspective. IEEE Cloud Computing, 4(2), 13-17. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7912249/

Lillis, D., Becker, B., O’Sullivan, T., & Scanlon, M. (2016). Current challenges and future research areas for digital forensic investigation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.03850. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.03850

Miranda Lopez, E., Moon, S. Y., & Park, J. H. (2016). Scenario-based digital forensics challenges in cloud computing. Symmetry, 8(10), 107. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/8/10/107

Rani, D. R., Sultana, S. N., & Sravani, P. L. (2016). Challenges of digital forensics in cloud computing environment. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(17), 90-100. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cd7d/5017853f06ce6c6f1e124d137256a5cc1b97.pdf

Samy, G. N., Shanmugam, B., Maarop, N., Magalingam, P., Perumal, S., & Albakri, S. H. (2017, April). Digital forensic challenges in the cloud computing environment. In International Conference of Reliable Information and Communication Technology (pp. 669-676). Springer, Cham. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-59427-9_69

Vincze, E. A. (2016). Challenges in digital forensics. Police Practice and Research, 17(2), 183-194. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15614263.2015.1128163