On the Issue of Creating a Digital Forensic Model for Collecting Electronic Evidence in the Investigation of Cybercrimes

The authors consider the problem of creating a digital forensic model for collecting electronic evidence in the investigation of transnational cybercrimes. A comparison method was used to analyze the criminal legislation of some countries, which made it possible to identify common areas of state activity to counteract such crimes, as well as to formulate the authors’ definition of cybercrime. The authors also analyze specific elements of crimes provided for in the criminal legislations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The paper presents the results of statistical research reflecting the dynamics of committing and solving crimes involving the use of information and telecommunications technologies or in the field of computer information from 2018 to 2023. Based on the analysis of the current state of cybercrime, the authors formulate trends that will determine the specifics of cybercrime until 2030. The authors come to the conclusion that, at the state level, heads of law enforcement agencies and departments regard the task of countering cybercrime as a priority, and that authors of research publications have been paying close attention to the problems of combating cybercrime in the context of digitalization in recent years. Nevertheless, the disclosure and investigation of cybercrimes involves overcoming numerous difficulties and limitations, especially in connection with collecting criminally significant electronic information. To solve this problem, the authors clarify the necessity and fundamental requirements for the proposed forensic model of collecting electronic evidence for these crimes, assess the advantages and disadvantages of groups of existing digital forensic models, including the group «general digital forensic models» in the investigation of all criminal cases for the crimes under consideration. This group of models will define the stages and sub-stages of the investigation, conducted sequentially. A group of models is proposed that defines the stages and substages of the previous group, which is described as a group of «models for the stages of investigation of specific types of crimes» and a group of «digital forensic models in many other environments according to technological and legislative requirements.» In addition, the authors propose an abstract-level model aimed at collecting electronic evidence, combined with the knowledge of various branches of law and applied legal sciences (operational investigative activities, criminology, forensic expertise, criminal procedure, etc.) and existing technological platforms.