Nowadays crimes are performed with new tools and technologies. But as the techniques of performing illegal activities are increasing. Digital forensics has also evolved at an alarming rate.
In the earlier days of digital forensics, it failed to solve most of the cases. But as the time flies there are a lot of improvements happened in the field of digital forensics. Let’s take a look at the evolution of digital forensics.
## Evolution of Digital Forensics
**Data Emergence in 1970 -** It is the time when the types of computers are mainframes and minicomputers. It is the beginning of giving value to the digital data.
**Expansion of Computers 1980 -** When there are personal computer starts increasing then every digital forensics expert started analyzing computer systems to collect evidences.
**Techniques Establishment 1990 -** Here the cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies started to follow the methodology to investigate digital crimes.
Increasing of cybercrimes Because of the Internet Late 1990 - As the Internet started capturing the world, more fraud, theft, and other digital crimes became challenging to solve for the experts.
**Standardization Early 2000 -** It is the emergence of the International Association of Computer Investigate Specialists (IACIS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They started providing the guidelines and best practices for digital investigation.
**Digital Media and Mobile Devices Mid 2000 -** Because of the mobile devices and digital media storage devices digital forensics took a boost. Cyber analysts are also started focusing on how to find evidences from devices, USBs, cell phones, and so on.
**Impact of Cloud Computing Late 2000 -** The introduction of cloud computing comes up with new challenges for digital forensics. Now investigators had to be aware of the decentralized data storage.
**At Present -** Now digital forensics also performing research on IOT and blockchain security to figure out the ways of getting insights from them.
This is the time to time upgradation of the digital forensics. Now, let’s to move to the advancement of the collection and presentation of evidences.
## Why We Should Choose the Best Digital Forensics Service Provider?
Collecting and preserving the evidence is very important in any investigation. There are multiple types of evidence and procedures required to follow while collecting the evidence.
Due to this, picking the best digital forensics organization is very crucial it can navigate all types of evidence and perceive them. This is one of the major reasons why [SysTools Digital Forensics Services](https://www.systoolsgroup.com/forensics/) are the best. It updates itself as per the evolution of digital forensics.
### Types of Evidence
* Physical object such as disks, drives, computers, phones all are the real evidences.
* Witness testimony is the direct evidence.
* Evidence that are supporting circumstances for a point or other evidence.
* These are the ones that support the collective elements or facts of the case.
### Rule of Evidence
The evidence should be accurate, complete, relevant, and convincing.
Logs and documents are referred to the secondary evidence. The integrity of the evidence should be maintained.
### Evolution of Evidence
Initially, the log files are treated as hearsay, therefore these are not admissible in court. But in the updates of Federal Rules of Evidence, it is changed. Rule 803, states that the record or report that was made at or near the time by, or from information transmitted by, a person with knowledge is admissible in the court. Due to this, the logs and activities help to collect the records.
### Current Challenges in Digital Forensics
**Collection of Preservation of Evidence -** The collection of preservation of evidence is a challenge in today’s world. Because digital data is easy to temper or delete.
**Cloud Data Collection -** Collecting the data from the cloud is very challenging and risky too.
**Limited Expertise -** The limited cyber experts are there, due to which hiring of the experts is also a cumbersome task.
**Usage of Anti-forensics -** Most of the time criminals use anti-forensics, and these tactics create issues while collecting the data.
#### Evolution of Digital Forensics Tools
* Autopsy
* Bulk Extractor
* COFEE
* DumpZilla
#### Conclusion
In this write-up, we have discussed the evolution of digital forensics in a detailed manner. Here we have explained about the complete history of digital forensics along with the tool. Additionally, the importance of evidence and why choosing the right digital forensics services provider is also elaborated.