Preserving meaning of evidence from evolving systems

Preservation is generally considered as the step in the forensic process that stops evidence from decaying. In this paper, we argue that the traditional scope of preservation in digital forensic science, focused on the trace, is not sufficient to ensure the stop of decay in the context of evolving systems. Instead, insufficiently preserved reference material may lead to the loss of meaning, resulting in an overall increase of uncertainty in the presented evidence. An expanded definition of Preservation and a definition of Reference Data are proposed. We present suggestions for future avenues of research of ways to preserve reference data in order to avoid a loss of meaning of the trace data.