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Cyber-enabled crimes are on the increase, and law enforcement has had to expand many of their detecting activities into the digital domain. As such, the field of digital forensics has become far more sophisticated over the years and is now able to uncover even more evidence that can be used to support prosecution of cyber criminals in a court of law. Governments, too, have embraced the ability to track suspicious individuals in the online world. Forensics investigators are driven to gather data exhaustively, being under pressure to provide law enforcement with sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.

Yet, there are concerns about the ethics and justice of untrammeled investigations on a number of levels. On an organizational level, unconstrained investigations could interfere with, and damage, the organization's right to control the disclosure of their intellectual capital. On an individual level, those being investigated could easily have their legal privacy rights violated by forensics investigations. On a societal level, there might be a sense of injustice at the perceived inequality of current practice in this domain.

This paper argues the need for a practical, ethically grounded approach to digital forensic investigations, one that acknowledges and respects the privacy rights of individuals and the intellectual capital disclosure rights of organizations, as well as acknowledging the needs of law enforcement. The paper derives a set of ethical guidelines, and then maps these onto a forensics investigation framework. The framework to expert review in two stages is subjected, refining the framework after each stage. The paper concludes by proposing the refined ethically grounded digital forensics investigation framework. The treatise is primarily UK based, but the concepts presented here have international relevance and applicability.

In this paper, the lens of justice theory is used to explore the tension that exists between the needs of digital forensic investigations into cybercrimes on the one hand, and, on the other, individuals' rights to privacy and organizations' rights to control intellectual capital disclosure.

The investigation revealed a potential inequality between the practices of digital forensics investigators and the rights of other stakeholders. That being so, the need for a more ethically informed approach to digital forensics investigations, as a remedy, is highlighted and a framework proposed to provide this.

The proposed ethically informed framework for guiding digital forensics investigations suggests a way of re-establishing the equality of the stakeholders in this arena, and ensuring that the potential for a sense of injustice is reduced.

Justice theory is used to highlight the difficulties in squaring the circle between the rights and expectations of all stakeholders in the digital forensics arena. The outcome is the forensics investigation guideline, PRECEpt: Privacy-Respecting EthiCal framEwork, which provides the basis for a re-aligning of the balance between the requirements and expectations of digital forensic investigators on the one hand, and individual and organizational expectations and rights, on the other.

In-depth knowledge about specific national approaches to using digital evidence in investigations is scarce. A clearer insight into the organisational barriers and professional challenges experienced, alongside a more detailed picture of how digital evidence can help police investigations are required to empirically substantiate claims about how digital technologies are changing the face of criminal investigations. The paper aims to focus on the introduction of digital media investigators to support investigating officers with the collection and interpretation of digital evidence.

Drawing on ethnographic and interview data collected as part of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project on the application of digital forensics expertise in policing in England and Wales, this paper examines the changing face of investigations in relation to escalating digital demand.

The analysis presents the national and regional organisational parameters of deploying digital expertise in criminal investigation and examines some of the challenges of being a digital media investigator (DMI). Through testimonies from DMIs, digital forensic practitioners, investigating and senior officers and forensic managers, the analysis explores the organisational tensions in the collection, processing, interpretation and use of information from digital devices for evidential purposes.

The paper offers an empirical basis for the comparative study of how the DMI role has been implemented by law enforcement agencies and its fit within broader institutional considerations and processes.

The development of the DMI role has raised questions about the supply of digital expertise, especially to volume crime investigations, and tensions around occupational divisions between scientific and operational units.

The findings show that while the introduction of the DMI role was much needed, the development of this valuable provision within each force and the resources available require sustained and coordinated support to protect these professionals and retain their skills.

This study contributes to the growing sociological and criminological literature with an ethnographically based perspective into the organisational and occupational tensions in the identification and processing of digital evidence in England and Wales.

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse research surrounding mandate fraud and to devise a crime script identifying the crime commission process. It is hoped this will assist in standardising investigation of mandate fraud by law enforcement.

The design of this paper follows on from the approach taken by van Hardeveld et al. (2017) in identifying a cybercrime script for carding activity. The current environment surrounding the investigation of digital fraud in the UK is examined through a review of the existing literature. Analysis of the crime commission process for mandate fraud is then outlined in a potential crime script identifying possible intervention points for law enforcement.

UK law enforcement’s current response to digital fraud is struggling to provide positive outcomes for victims. There is inconsistency in the investigative approach and practical issues surrounding how the digital fraud problem is tackled. Changing the emphasis of digital fraud investigation to focus on the money laundering networks based in the UK also needs to be considered. Standardising investigation into digital fraud by mapping out digital criminality using crime scripts and routine activity theory could be beneficial for law enforcement. The results of this process could also assist in effectively identifying where law enforcement resources may be best deployed to solve some of the practical issues highlighted.

There is little literature directly focused on a crime script for mandate fraud. This is despite it being a significant contributor to fraud losses in the UK. For law enforcement, both digital and financial investigation skill sets are required to investigate such offences. Therefore, mapping the crime commission process has significant value for clearly identifying investigative intervention points.

A first responder to a crisis acts by stabilizing the situation and preventing further losses to victims. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of whether auditors can act as first responders to a financial fraud.

This paper reviews Securities and Exchange (SEC) regulations and auditing practice pronouncements to identify the role of digital evidence in those statements.

Auditors will act as first responders if such a role is required in SEC regulations or under the auditors' professional practice guidelines. Recent SEC regulations and practice guidelines are reviewed to determine if any such role exists. The effectiveness of a first responder to financial frauds is dependent on the tools they use to evaluate the crisis.

In order for auditors to act effectively, they must carefully take into consideration fraudulent digital documents.

This research paper explores the roles of electronic texts in research projects in the humanities and seeks to deepen the understanding of the nature of scholars' engagement with e-texts. The study used qualitative methodology to explore engagement of scholars in literary and historical studies with primary materials in electronic form (i.e., e-texts). The study revealed a range of scholars' interactions with e-texts during the whole research process. It uncovered a particular pattern of information-seeking practices in electronic environments called netchaining and the main types of uses and contributions of e-texts to research projects. It was found that e-texts play support and substantive roles in the research process. A number of influences from electronic environment are identified as challenges and aids in working with e-texts. The study does not have statistical significance. It indicates a need for further research into scholarly practices, training requirements, and new forms of service provision. Study results are relevant for the development of digital collections, information services, educational programs, and other forms of support for the use of technology in research. The results can be also used to inform approaches to text encoding and development of electronic information systems and have implications for organizational and industry policies. The study found a range of scholars' interactions and forms of intellectual engagement with e-texts that were not documented and analyzed by earlier studies. It provides insights into disciplinary variations in the humanities and contributes to the understanding of scholarly change catalyzed by information technology.

Based on this holistic model, the authors propose and analyze seven key issues related to the admissibility of digital media in cross-border trials considering four Latin American countries.

The authors apply the modeling process of the soft systems methodology by Checkland in order to develop a holistic model focused on human situation problems involving digital media and information technology devices or systems.

The authors discuss the status of the identified key issues in each country and offer a perspective on the integration of cross-border work analyzing the contribution of these key issues to the collaboration between countries criminal cases or the use of foreign digital artifacts in domestic trials.

In this study, the authors assumed that the problems of official interaction between agencies of different countries are considered solved. However, for future studies or research, the authors recommend that these issues can be considered as relevant, since they are related to cross-border cooperation topics that will necessarily require unavoidable official arrangements, agreements and formalities.

This work is aimed at defining and analyzing the key issues that can contribute to the application of current techniques and methodologies in digital forensics as a tool to support the legal framework of each country, considering cross-border trials. Finally, the authors highlight the implications of this study lie in the identification and analysis of the key issues that must be considered for digital forensics as a support tool for the admissibility of digital evidence in cross-border trials.

The authors consider that digital forensic will have high demand in cross-border trials, and it will depend on the people mobility between the countries considered in this study.

This paper shows that the soft systems methodology allows elaborating a holistic model focused on social problems involving digital media and informatics devices.

This paper presents an in-depth investigation on how brands may concur to the co-creation of consumers’ experiences. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the main types of co-created experiences that consumers may encounter as a result of social media brand communities.

To identify the main types of co-created experiences, a digital investigation has been used as the main method of analysis. The authors draw their digital investigation on the digital methods paradigm.

Four principal types of co-created experiences have been identified and conceptualized, namely, brand’s products’ individual usage experiences, auto-celebrative experiences, brand’s products’ communal usage experiences and collective celebration experiences.

Results stress the importance for brand strategists to involve members of social media brand communities to stimulate co-creation experiences. Specifically, it emerges that the simultaneous interaction among members of the community and the brand may directly affect co-creation experiences.

La presente investigación se propone analizar en profundidad cómo las marcas pueden estar de acuerdo con la co-creación de las experiencias de los consumidores. En particular, el objetivo de la investigación es aclarar cuáles son los principales tipos de experiencias co-creadas que los consumidores pueden experimentar debido a su participación en las comunidades de marcas de redes sociales.

Para hacerlo, en primer lugar, se han identificado los factores que influyen en la co-creación de las experiencias de los miembros de las comunidades de marcas. En particular, el punto de partida de esta investigación está representado por el papel de otros consumidores y de la marca en la co-creación de experiencias. Con el fin de identificar los principales tipos de experiencias co-creadas, se ha utilizado una investigación digital como el principal método de análisis. Dibujamos nuestra investigación digital en el paradigma de Métodos Digitales.

Se identificaron y conceptualizaron cuatro tipos principales de experiencias co-creadas.

Los resultados enfatizan la importancia de que los estrategas de marca involucren a los miembros de las comunidades de marcas de medios sociales para estimular la co-creación de experiencias. Específicamente, surgió cómo la interacción simultánea de otros miembros de la comunidad y la marca puede afectar la co-creación.

Co-creación de valor, Comunidades de marca, Experiencias de los consumidores, Experiencias co-creadas, Investigación digital, Marketing experiencial

This paper seeks to examine important issues relating to digital preservation with a focus on file integrity and digital forensics.

This is a viewpoint paper.

This paper highlights important issues relating to digital preservation and offers suggestions on comprehensive approaches to achieving a high level of integrity with library digital repositories.

Libraries have always had as a part of their core mission the preservation of information and cultural heritage. The seriousness with which the challenges associated with digital preservation are met will determine the reputation of libraries as continuing to be a reliable preserver of cultural heritage and research data.

Libraries play an important role in cultural heritage and preservation of research data. This role is manifested both generally and specifically within the academic context. It is important that libraries stay at the forefront of developing reliable means for digital preservation.

Several means of achieving a high degree of reliability in the area of digital preservation are suggested. If these and similar ideas suggested from others in the field are followed, it will assist libraries in maintaining a reputation as reliable preservers of cultural heritage and as important players in twenty‐first century research endeavors.

The purpose of this study is to develop an innovative approach of combating economic crime using the forensic accounting techniques.

The approach considered the identification of the effective forensic accounting techniques from the available literature and also explored the anti-economic crime policy, capable of assisting in the combating of economic crime. This brought about the development of two conceptual models, which incorporate all the requirements for the implementation of forensic accounting and the integration of forensic accounting technique into the organizational control system for effective fraud mitigation.

The analysis of the literature review indicated that one of the drawbacks, which has continue to mitigate the implementation of forensic accounting as a tool for combating fraud is lack of a suitable framework. This was the major focal point of this work, which produced two simplified conceptual models suitable for effective fraud mitigation.

This study is limited to the development of conceptual models for fraud mitigation only.

The simplified model can easily be adopted into the structure of an organization to provide a sustainable solution to mitigate fraud occurrences.

The novelty of this study lies in the development of two simplified conceptual models. The first model addressed the incorporation of forensic accounting into the organization structure while the second captured the detailed investigation and comprehensive data analysis processes of uncovering fraud. The development of conceptual models with all these peculiarities for fraud mitigation has not been widely reported by the existing literature.

There is a need to provide secure and safe information security systems through the use of firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, encryption, authentication, and other hardware and software solutions. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose a framework which includes safe, secure, trusted, and auditable services, as well as forensic mechanisms to provide audit trails for digital evidence of transactions and protection against malicious and illegal activities.

The paper reviews the literature as the foundation and knowledge base for the proposed framework and system of secure and trustworthy mobile agent (MA)‐based e‐marketplaces. It consists of the current state of the art taxonomy for the classified MA‐based frameworks for e‐marketplace trading, underlying supporting systems, e‐payment systems, and the essential issues related to auditable and digital forensic services.

The current knowledge shows that there is a serious lack of auditable and digital forensic services to make secure and trustworthy MA‐based e‐marketplaces systems. The paper draws conclusions and highlights further research work which is ongoing and new work that needs to be performed.

The paper perceives the needs to define the requirements for secure and trustworthy MA‐based e‐marketplaces and proposes a framework to design effective systems using the latest techniques and technologies.