Towards Digital Forensic Readiness: A Framework for Financial Service Providers

Abstract

Digital Forensic Readiness has widely been referred to as an organization’s ability to proactively capture digital evidence and as a result, incur minimum costs of investigation in the event of incidents. However, several organizations still underestimate the usefulness of setting up their environments to be forensically ready until an incident occurs, and this often results in huge losses and costly investigations. Global trends show that financial institutions are amongst the worst-hit companies by cybercriminals, and this is attributed to one of the key motivations for cybercrime, which is financial gain. Kenya’s cybercrime statistics over the past five years also show that financial services remain amongst the top hit sectors by cybercriminals. The aim of this study was to develop a Digital Forensic Readiness framework for Financial Services Providers. To achieve this, the study assessed the relevant existing frameworks to explore their strengths and gaps. Additionally, the study explored the current state of forensic readiness in Kenyan financial institutions by reviewing secondary data and analysing primary data collected from respondents in the financial services sector. The study adopted a descriptive research design with the main data collection tool being questionnaires, which were administered to respondents through an online survey. The collected data was analysed using the SPSS software 28.0.1 and a multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the influence of organizational factors, legal factors, technology, and policies on Digital Forensic Readiness. The outcome of the analysis indicated that these factors indeed had a significant effect on forensic readiness, with organizational factors and policies having more impact on the framework. The study recommended that organizations not only focus on complying with laws and implementing technological controls, but also prioritize improving forensic readiness awareness and culture, supporting forensic readiness activities, setting up training, and enforcing policies to ensure personnel compliance