Web Browser Artefacts using Cryptographic Examination

Abstract

Private browsers, in general, offer security and privacy by allowing users to browse the web without leaving usual traces on their computers. However, private browsing has been proven not to deliver the security as they ensure they would. Previous researchers concluded that web browsers often failed to provide the intended privacy protection to their users. Even with third-party PC cleaning tools, web browser data can still be accessed using computer forensic tools. This paper aims to perform research and development of a framework with the help of cryptography that will support high accessibility of evidence until the evidence should be erased, at a point where it will be impossible to recover. Cryptography consolidates innumerable algorithms which are used in building a secured application. This application mainly focusses on the implementation of a system capable of encrypting of browser artefacts using encryption techniques. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is one of the best-known and most robust symmetric encryption algorithms. The AES rule is capable of using 128, 192, and 256 bits of cryptographic keys. The proposed system makes use of the advantages of both the methods by presenting a hybrid technique of encoding and encryption, resulting in a much secured and faster alternative of storing web browser artefacts. Regardless of whether the attacker gets access to any of the keys, the attacker won’t be in position to unmask the data in an expected certain amount of time. This system will hopefully contribute to a better web browser over the existing techniques by doing some minor changes in the implementation framework.