The Use of Ontologies in Forensic Analysis of Smartphone Content

Authors

Mohammed Alzaabi, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and ResearchFollow
Thomas A. Martin, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and ResearchFollow
Kamal Taha, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research
Andy Jones, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Prior Publisher

The Association of Digital Forensics, Security and Law (ADFSL)

Abstract

Digital forensics investigators face a constant challenge in keeping track with evolving technologies such as smartphones. Analyzing the contents of these devices to infer useful information is becoming more time consuming as the volume and complexity of data are increasing. Typically, such analysis is undertaken by a human, which makes it dependent on the experience of the investigator. To overcome such impediments, an automated technique can be utilized in order to aid the investigator to quickly and eciently analyze the data.In this paper, we propose F-DOS; a set of ontologies that models the smartphone content for the purpose of forensic analysis. F-DOS can form a knowledge management component in a forensic analysis system. Its importance lies in its ability to encode the semantics of the smartphone content using concepts and their relationships that are modeled by F-DOS.Digital forensics investigators face a constant challenge in keeping track with evolving technologies such assmartphones. Analyzing the contents of these devices to infer useful information is becoming more timeconsuming as the volume and complexity of data are increasing. Typically, such analysis is undertaken by ahuman, which makes it dependent on the experience of the investigator. To overcome such impediments, anautomated technique can be utilized in order to aid the investigator to quickly and eciently analyze the data.In this paper, we propose F-DOS; a set of ontologies that models the smartphone content for the purpose offorensic analysis. F-DOS can form a knowledge management component in a forensic analysis system. Itsimportance lies in its ability to encode the semantics of the smartphone content using concepts and theirrelationships that are modeled by F-DOS.

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Recommended Citation

Alzaabi, Mohammed; Martin, Thomas A.; Taha, Kamal; and Jones, Andy (2015) "The Use of Ontologies in Forensic Analysis of Smartphone Content," Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law: Vol. 10 , Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15394/jdfsl.2015.1215
Available at: https://commons.erau.edu/jdfsl/vol10/iss4/9