Chapter 4 - The intersection between social media, crime, and digital forensics: #WhoDunIt?

Abstract

This chapter opens with a discussion on the prevalence and different types of social media, such as social networking sites, blogs, virtual social worlds, collaborative projects, content communities, and virtual game worlds. Next, the authors review the potential evidentiary value that social media may have in criminal cases. Specifically, social media may yield digital evidence of the planning, commission, or aftermath of a crime. Finally, this chapter provides an overview on the location of social media evidence on the network and physical device, as well as the most common digital forensic tools that extract and analyze social media artifacts. Overall, not only are almost all criminal investigations involving at least one form of digital evidence, it is plausible that the majority of them will also involve a form of social media as well. Thus, it is necessary for law enforcement to stay up-to-date on the latest social media trends in order to identify the most effective tool for extracting and analyzing social media evidence.