Reviewing and Evaluating Existing File Carving Techniques for JPEG Files

Abstract

Digital forensic is the process of collecting, preserving and analyzing the evidence obtained from the digital media, which start from the moment of collecting these evidence. On the other hand, if the file system is corrupted or deleted, then file carving techniques should be established to restore the maximum amount of deleted data, especially, the fragments. File carving is a methodology that helps the investigators to retrieve and acquire the data from unallocated space. There are many carving techniques are used to find different types of file such as (PDF, XML, JPEG etc.). This paper will focus on the JPEG file carving techniques since the JPEG is the most widespread loss compression formats used by digital cameras. The main contribution of this paper is to review the existing techniques for JPEG file carving and evaluate them to identifying their characteristics. Also are classified according to the types of carving techniques used, fragmentation handling issues, and the existence of file system. Additionally, a hybrid method proposed to perform special tasks depending on fragmentation handling issues. To the best of our knowledge, this paper becomes a step forward for researchers interested in carving techniques by helping them finding the best algorithm for carving and obtaining any deleted data in cyberspace.