DFPulse: The 2024 digital forensic practitioner survey

This paper reports on the largest survey of digital forensic practitioners to date (DFPulse) conducted from March to May 2024 resulting in 122 responses. The survey collected information about practitioners' operating environments, the technologies they encounter, investigative techniques they use, the challenges they face, the degree to which academic research is accessed and useful to the practitioner community, and their suggested future research directions. The paper includes quantitative and qualitative results from the survey and a discussion of the implications for academia, the improvements that can be made, and future research directions. • A global survey of 122 digital forensic practitioners, identifying operational challenges and engagement with research. • Actionable recommendations to enhance collaboration between academic research and practitioner needs in digital forensics. • Informed suggestions for refining future surveys and improving research directions to better align with real-world needs. • Released summary statistics for further academic use, enabling additional analysis while protecting participant anonymity.