P2DF: A Privacy-Preserving Digital Forensics Framework

The extensive use of digital devices by individuals generates a significant amount of private data which creates challenges for investigation agencies to protect suspects' privacy. Existing digital forensics models illustrate the steps and actions to be followed during an investigation, but most of them are inadequate to investigate a crime with all the processes in an integrated manner and do not protect suspect privacy. In this paper, the authors propose the development of a privacy-preserving digital forensics (P2DF) framework, which facilitates investigation through maintaining confidentiality of the suspects through various privacy standards and policies. It includes an access control mechanism which allows only authorized investigators to access private data and identified digital evidence. It is also equipped with a digital evidence preservation mechanism which could be helpful for the court of law to ensure the authenticity, confidentiality, and reliability of the evidence and to verify whether privacy of the suspect was preserved during the investigation process.