Digital traces of criminal offenses: concept and features

The article examines the concept and features of digital traces as a specific type of data arising from the use of information technologies during the commission of criminal offenses. Various scholarly approaches to defining this concept are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the absence of unified terminology for defining such traces. It is established that this multiplicity of opinions is due, on the one hand, to the rapid development of technologies worldwide and the emergence of new types, and on the other hand, to scholars focusing on individual features (aspects) of such traces. The expediency of using the term «digital traces» as the most adaptable to the rapid development of modern information technologies is substantiated. The essence of digital traces and their differences from traditional traces are studied in terms of the mechanism of formation, storage features, the possibility of remote alteration and destruction, as well as the methods and procedures for their detection, seizure, and forensic examination. It is established that the occurrence of digital traces is primarily not related to the physical presence of a certain object at a specific location, which is characteristic, for example, of materially fixed traces and surface contacts, but rather with its interaction with digital means and technologies. At the same time, such traces remain not on a specific surface but in digital space. Attention is focused on the fact that digital traces do not have a usual material form and therefore are detected and investigated only with the help of certain equipment. It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of «digital trace» and «source of a digital trace.» The main properties of digital traces are highlighted, and an author’s definition is proposed. It is found that the essence of digital traces and their susceptibility to various kinds of manipulations determine the features of their detection and examination to guarantee integrity and authenticity, as well as the possibility of further use as evidence.