Problematic Issues of Definition of Digital Forensics

In the scientific literature and mass media, the terms “digital criminalistics”, “digital criminology”, “digital forensic examination” are used without distinction and sometimes even interchangeably. As they have a similar orientation and are closely related to each other, the question arises of how to differentiate these concepts and clarify their meaning. Scientific and technical progress in the field of crime counteraction, as well as general digitization of all spheres of society, are closely linked to the development of a new field of forensic knowledge: digital forensics and the use of digital evidence in the process of proving. An important direction in criminology is the integration of knowledge and the introduction of cutting-edge, innovative scientific advancements aimed at addressing the challenges of combating crime. Digital criminalistics is developing rapidly in Ukraine. Its progress is fueled by new challenges arising from Russian Federation aggression and the necessity to develop new remote electronic tools for the search, collection, recording, and analysis of criminal evidence. The advancement of digital criminology takes place according to three primary directions: 1) the formation of a separate scientific field within criminology; 2) application of specific expertise in working with digital evidence; 3) conduct of forensic examinations, including computer-technical examinations. The Article Purpose is to analyze the views of scholars regarding the conception of digital criminalistics and its subject, as well as to classify the main directions in ensuring legality and combating crimes in this field. The research methods employed encompass general scientific theoretical methods, including analysis (which facilitated the differentiation of such concepts as “digital criminalistics”, “digital criminology”, etc., allowing to study them separately), synthesis (in the process of integrating various forensic concepts into a unified whole), abstraction (during transition from specific concepts related to certain types of forensic examinations to abstract forensic categories), and generalization (which enabled the transition from the analysis of individual areas of digital criminalistics to the understanding of a holistic concept) and explanation of individual concepts related to the field of digital criminalistics, as well as application of systematic, functional, and comparative methods to determine similarities and differences among specific concepts related to the research topic, aiming to identify common and distinct. Additionally, a systemic approach is used to study the concept of “digital criminalistics” as a holistic set of elements within a framework of relationships and connections.