Chapter 4 - Facilitators and relevant factors

4.4 The future is already here

4.4.2 Internet of Everything - Law enforcement considerations

The Internet of Everything presents specific investigative challenges for LE because of the number and diversity of hardware, software and communication protocols that LE needs to be able to examine, and in terms of identifying the devices and extracting the data that are of relevance to a particular case. More often than not this will require live data forensics as some or all of the relevant data may be located in the cloud, which will frequently require cross-border co-operation and legal assistance. With some of the smaller IoE devices, however, the amount of relevant data that can be extracted for investigative purposes may be minimal.

Furthermore, extracting, identifying and combining the relevant evidence will routinely become a Big Data problem, requiring LE to have the necessary skills available.

The increasing number and variety of devices is likely to result in a substantial increase in demand for LE forensics examination and investigation resources.

Finally, it can be expected that the IoE will further complicate the attribution of crimes, given the increased attack surface and large number of attack vectors.