Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST
In forensic science, researchers use black box studies to measure the reliability of methods that rely mainly on human judgment, as opposed to methods that rely on laboratory instruments. In digital forensics, experts turn data from digital devices into information that can help an investigation.
Digital forensics experts often extract data from computers and mobile phones that may contain evidence of a crime. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will conduct the first large-scale study to measure how well those experts do their job. But rather than testing the proficiency of individual experts, the study aims to measure the performance of the digital forensics community overall.
In this study, to be conducted online, participants will examine simulated digital evidence, then answer questions that might arise in a real criminal investigation. The exercise should take about two hours, and participation is voluntary. Enrollment is now open, and the online test will be available for approximately three months.
“We want to understand the state of the practice,” said Barbara Guttman, leader of NIST’s digital forensics research program. “Can experts produce accurate and reliable information when examining data from a digital device?”
In any forensic discipline, experts can encounter difficult cases. Fingerprints can be smudged and distorted. DNA can be degraded. One challenge with digital evidence is that it can often be difficult to find key bits of evidence among large volumes of data. Also, technology changes so quickly that it can be difficult to keep up.
“Forensics experts can’t extract data perfectly in every possible scenario,” Guttman said. “Phones change. Apps change. The wor ..
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