Functional Architectural Design of a Digital Forensic Readiness Cybercrime Language as a Service

Abstract

Developing a generic digital forensic solution in a cloud computing platform that can address the functional requirements of digital forensic stakeholders is a complex process. The solution would require a technology-independent architectural design that addresses the challenges of incident threat identification, triggering, incident threat isolation and investigation. Existing approaches are limited to the functionality that treats these four challenges individually without the due diligence to consider their interoperability. This study proposes a context-independent and technology-neutral architecture to address these issues by developing a digital forensic readiness (DFR) based on a human language communication interaction (HLI) system that could create a cybercrime language as a service (DFClaaS). The functional architectural design of the proposed DFR HLI DFClaaS system comprises microservices, layered and event/component-based architectural patterns on top of cloud architectural patterns. The DFR HLI DFClaaS system integrates flexibility and other quality requirements to separate concerns while accommodating rigid requirements like security and reliability. The developed architecture is essential for any human-centred digital forensic solution. Therefore, integrating the developed architecture presents a reliable baseline for the digital forensic community.