IoT Forensics Readiness - influencing factors

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly becoming a part of people's lives and is progressively revolutionizing our lives and businesses. From a Digital Forensics (DF) point of view, this connection turns an IoT environment into a valuable source of evidence containing diverse artifacts that could significantly aid DF investigations. Therefore, DF must adapt to the characteristics of IoT Forensics (IoTF). With the increasing deployment of IoT, organizations are compelled to revise their approaches to planning, developing, and implementing Information Technology (IT) security strategies. The IoT presents new business opportunities but also simultaneously creates various challenges related to cyber-attacks and their resolution. For optimal preparedness in the face of future incidents, companies should consider implementing Forensics Readiness (FR). This paper thus examines the factors that influence IoT-FR within organizations. By systematically analyzing research efforts from 2010 to 2023, we identified the following factors influencing IoT-FR: (1) Legal Aspect, (2) Standardization Approach, (3) Technological Resource and Technique, (4) Management Process and (5) Human Factor. Furthermore, these influencing factors are not only considered individually but also in terms of the dependencies between them. This results in the creation of a holistic model including the interdependencies and influences of the factors to provide a novel overview and enhance the integrated perspective on IoT-FR. The knowledge of factors influencing the integration of IoT-FR into organizations is valuable. It thus can be of enormous importance, as it can save time and money in the event of a subsequent incident. Additionally, alongside these factors, various challenges, techniques, models, and frameworks are highlighted to offer profound insights into the relatively novel subject of IoT-FR and to inspire future research.