Machine-Learning Forensics: State of the Art in the Use of Machine-Learning Techniques for Digital Forensic Investigations within Smart Environments

Abstract

Recently, a world-wide trend has been observed that there is widespread adoption across all fields to embrace smart environments and automation. Smart environments include a wide variety of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, so many challenges face conventional digital forensic investigation (DFI) in such environments. These challenges include data heterogeneity, data distribution, and massive amounts of data, which exceed digital forensic (DF) investigators’ human capabilities to deal with all of these challenges within a short period of time. Furthermore, they significantly slow down or even incapacitate the conventional DFI process. With the increasing frequency of digital crimes, better and more sophisticated DFI procedures are desperately needed, particularly in such environments. Since machine-learning (ML) techniques might be a viable option in smart environments, this paper presents the integration of ML into DF, through reviewing the most recent papers concerned with the applications of ML in DF, specifically within smart environments. It also explores the potential further use of ML techniques in DF in smart environments to reduce the hard work of human beings, as well what to expect from future ML applications to the conventional DFI process.