Digital Forensic Investigation of Social Media, Acquisition and Analysis of Digital Evidence

Various social networking sites (SNSs), widely referred to as social media, provide services such as email, blogging, instant messaging and photo sharing for social and commercial interactions. SNSs are facilitating new forms of social interaction, dialogue, exchange and collaboration. They allow millions of users and organisations worldwide to exchange ideas, post updates and comments or participate in activities and events, while sharing their wider interests. At the same time, such a phenomenon has led to an upsurge in significant criminal activities by perpetrators who are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to deploy technology to circumvent detection. Digital forensic Examiners (DFEs) often face serious challenges in relation to data acquisition. Therefore, this article aims to analyse the significance of SNSs in DFIs and challenges that DFEs often encounter when acquiring evidence from SNSs. Furthermore, this article describes the steps of the digital forensic investigation process that must be taken to acquire digital evidence that is both authentic and forensically sound.