Digital Forensics Investigations and Network Security Issues in Tracking the Trails of Cybercriminals

The application of digital forensics investigations (DFI) and the legal implications in network security have become imperative due to increased connectivity and cyberattacks. The DFI process requires investigating computers and their associated media to determine if they have been used to commit a crime or gain unauthorized access. However, in a network environment, attackers can intercept, interrupt, modify content, and modify contents and fabricate the victims. Thus, it is imperative that these cyberattacks are considered from a legal perspective considering the challenges. The paper explores the digital forensics investigations process and its legal implications from network security to assist in determining indicators of compromise, attribution, and prosecution. The contribution of the paper is threefold. First, we explore DFI challenges from a network security perspective, including the legal and the standards. Secondly, we implement attacks on a network and use DFI tools such as Splunk to detect interruptions, modifications, and disruptions during the investigation process. Finally, we discuss some DFI challenges that impinge on national and international law during investigations and prosecutions and recommend improvement. The results show that the DFI process in the network security environment is relevant in detecting, preventing, and prosecuting these threats.