A DESIGN OF DIGITAL CHAIN CUSTODY FOR REPUBLIC OF IRAQ

Abstract

Chain of custody (COC) is a concept and process designed to ensure the integrity of evidence including digital evidence (DE). Also, it defines a set of procedures to document files according to its chronological [1].  In this paper, the authors design a Chain of custody application software in order to document all digital evidence in order to ensure its integrity. Thus, a chain of custody application design to document the digital evidence from the time it collected to the time where the evidence actually presented at the court to ensure the digital evidence integrity and authenticity. It can help the investigator to follow clear documentation during the investigation process because of the conventional method considered a problematic issue when it used for digital evidence. In addition to physical evidence and digital evidence have different features and characteristics.The Chain of Custody application for digital evidence is designed using the SQL and XML [3] schema approach to save case information and compute DE hash value. then compare it with its value stores in the COC tab. This solution comes as one of the solutions to enrich the existing solution of the digital chain of custody.