Unveiling cybersecurity mysteries: A comprehensive survey on digital forensics trends, threats, and solutions in network security

Abstract

The field of digital forensics is undergoing a paradigm shift because security breaches are now occurring outside of conventional domains such as mobile devices, databases, networks, multimedia, cloud platforms, and the Internet of Things (IoT) all require a complete approach. This study report reveals a high level of ambiguities and process redundancies within the subdomains of digital forensics through the completion of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). To address this, we suggest a high-level theoretical metamodel that unifies tasks, operations, procedures, and methods of research across many subdomains that will help forensic investigators during digital investigations to organize and integrate evidence. The study also discusses the necessity of global perspectives in research on digital forensics and provides a qualitative evaluation of past surveys, highlighting similar difficulties, obstacles, and key issues across domains, whereas earlier surveys concentrated on domains. The findings through examination offer a multidimensional knowledge of the difficulties in digital forensics and suggested metamodels help to create a more cohesive and integrated approach to digital investigations, establishing an environment for further study and collaborations in this crucial domain.