Dropbox forensics: Forensic analysis of a cloud storage service

Abstract

With the rising popularity of cloud storage and its ever-increasing versatility, many enterprises and individuals have jumped on the cloud bandwagon. This increased adoption of cloud storage had amplified the demand for cloud forensics, the cross-discipline between cloud computing and digital forensics. Cloud storage forensics is deemed the emerging challenge to digital forensic investigator since it allows an application on the local system to connect to the cloud storage and automate synching of files. When misused as a tool of crimes, investigators can expect to find evidence and traces of criminal activity in both local system and cloud providers. Forensic implications of Dropbox, an online cloud storage service with millions of users are the focus of this study. Dropbox client application on Windows 10 platform was examined and relevant valuable artifacts were presented.