A Strategic Model for Forensic Readiness

Abstract

Forensic readiness has been defined as: ‘…the capability of an organisation to use digital evidence in a forensic investigation’. For businesses, especially medium or small enterprises, gaining this capability can seem time consuming and expensive: it may involve a number of processes, it may require new hardware and software and people with specialised skill sets may need to be hired in order to implement any plan. Yet developing and maintaining a forensic readiness capability is vital in the digital age. Fraud and cybercrime cost almost £11bn in the UK alone last year. Across the European Union, the national annual cost of cybercrime now accounts for 0.41% of GDP. Recent figures have also shown that up to 62% of digital incidents are caused by insiders, either accidentally or knowingly. An astonishing 91% of cybersecurity attacks begin with a single email. This research proposes a structured, strategic approach to forensic readiness for businesses that is economic to implement and run. It is based on people and processes rather than complex electronic systems. Key to this approach is a firm’s best asset - its own staff. It is theorised that the foundation stone of forensic readiness is a strong internal security culture. In order to achieve this aim, a unique, scalable model for efficient and inclusive planning is put forward with a reporting construct which aims to assure company-wide involvement.